


Persona Compendium

by DevinePhoenix



Category: Persona 3, Persona Series, Shin Megami Tensei
Genre: Chronic Illness, Elemental Magic, Families of Choice, Gen, He just starts off with 10 years extra exp, Main Pairing undecided, New Game Plus, Probably actually classified as, Protective Shinjiro, Protective Thanatos, Social Links, Terminal Illnesses, Thanatos is somehow best roommate, Velvet room shenanigans, but not really, it's not a do over, overpowered main character, slowly but surely
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2018-10-27 11:38:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 30,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10808289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DevinePhoenix/pseuds/DevinePhoenix
Summary: Awoken at the Dawn of the Dark Hour on a bloody bridge, Minato had always known of the presence of Death tucked up against his soul. Ever since then he's been able to slip into the extra hour at midnight. He grew up with the harsh world of shadows looming over his days. His power grew through adversity, even as he became detached from humanity.By the age of ten, it was too much for him. His head was overflowing with too many personae for him to handle, his magic was out of control and proving a danger to people around him. Left with little choice, Minato started to use Persona Suppressants. Of course from there, his body started to break down from trying to suppress all the powerful spirits nesting in his head. At this point, Elizabeth, his assigned Velvet Room assistant for when he grew old enough to sign a proper Fool's contract decided to preemptively hand over possession of his Persona Compendium. The book siphoned off all of the extra Personae and managed his brain into order.Iwatodai was not prepared to deal with a self sufficient Minato who had been learning and practicing combat magic for ten years. (SEES does not know how to handle this veteran either)





	1. The One Who Walks Among Monsters

**Author's Note:**

> I'm finally a member of Archive! After numerous years reading here I kinda realized I should probably join. I'm cross posting my stories from Fanfiction.net here.

Persona 3

Tale of the Demonic Compendium

X

_Demonic/Persona Compendium \- _ _These arcane magical storage books are usually tied to a single Wild Card or a Fool Arcana Persona User and kept in the possession of a_ _custodian_ _Summoner_ _(See summoners), not to be confused with Demon Summoners who deal with Demons instead of Personae_ _._ _A seemingly harmless book that stores an imprint of Personae that were found or fused by the connected Fool. It records the imprint of the spiritual level, strengths, weaknesses and skills of that Persona at the moment of imprinting. The imprint is pressed into a physical card which is then stored in the book. Physical items can also be sealed into cards and stored in the Compendium to use it as a kind of inventory.  
_

X

            It was an ethereal night. No. More like an ethereal nightmare.

 

There was no way anyone could be comfortable in the macabre setting, any normal person wouldn’t be able to withstand the heavy malice in the air. The sheer depravity and twisted nature of the bloodstained night could shatter a lesser man's sanity with a glance. And it had before, regular people who slipped into the hour between days whose mentality was shredded by the reality shift and inner shadows brought forth by the yellow moon.

 

            Blood stained the streets, pooling on the side walk in grotesque puddles. A sickly green glow lit up the surroundings brightly, highlighting the horrors and casting sharp shadows with the contrast. The near full moon hung forbiddingly in the sky illuminating large hulking coffins in the streets. Twisted shadows roiled in the heavy darkness-

 

 - glimpses of yellow eyes flashing.

 

Impossible shapes of monsters born straight out of any nightmare lurked in the darkness. They slunk through alleyways in search of their next prey, claws scraping across pavement and fangs gnashing in frustration. Faint growls echoed across the city at intervals. This was the time of man-hunting monsters, creatures born of the dark side of humanity.

 

It would take a certain kind of person to walk among this blood spattered and twisted world without surrendering to the monsters, both real and those born of their own psyche.

 

A person with a certain kind of... _potential_ , you might say.

 

            Amidst the blood and monsters, a blue haired boy walked unconcerned among the towering coffins in the street. There was no hurry in his motions or even fear at the strange and otherworldly surroundings. He just kept walking, slouched and relaxed, as if going on a Sunday stroll. There was nothing remotely strange about him, nothing noteworthy of a second glance if you passed him in the street.

 

However, there was something simply _wrong_ about him.

 

Shadows fled before his measured steps. A cloak of nearly tangible power about him warned off anything that would dare try their luck. Pools of blood that thickened the air with a heavy iron smell, were habitually avoided with ease. He didn't even need to pay attention to where he put his feet.

 

This was a person who walked among monsters.

 

Despite his relaxed posture, the teenager remained perfectly balanced on the balls of his feet, easily able to spring into action at the slightest hint of hostilities. The lazy slouch concealed his smooth and predatory gait. His mercury gaze was sharp with warning, lethal and searching his surroundings for anything that dared to challenge him.

 

This was one that was not unfamiliar with violence.

 

            His brand-new school uniform was rumpled and untidy. An old pair of silver headphones covered his ears, playing his favourite song at max volume through the silence even when all other electronics had long since fallen silent.

_I will... _Burn my Dread~__

A slight breeze ruffled deep blue bangs that normally blocked his right eye. A duffel bag was slung easily over his shoulder but it had nothing on the large book clasped in one of his hands.

            A rather thick old tome, it looked as though it could be classified as a weapon simply due to its massive weight. Not that he would use it as such, blood was such a difficult thing to clean off it.

            The cover was a modest brown, perhaps one could mistake it for a large dictionary if it were not for the runic summoning circle escribed on the cover. Even with the questionable decoration of the cover, the real betraying characteristic was the aura it gave off. It would make even non-magic sensitive people jittery with the amount of power saturating the air and warning off the monsters of the night.

 

The unsettling hardback was held carefully tucked against his chest. The other hand held a rather mundane sheet of directions. To the new dorm he would be living in for the next year, to be precise.

 

_Gekkoukan High, huh..._

 

Checking the map again, he counted the visible numbers on the buildings until he was certain he had the correct one. He eyed the large doom building with unease. Only four floors, thank goodness. He didn't think he could deal with any more people living in close quarters. Even four entire floors of people might be pushing it. Hopefully the dorm had empty rooms or he'd go insane and kill somebody.

 

Just to be clear, he didn't particularly like people.

  
He was a loner, plain and simple. Content with his own independence, he didn't like to reach out with others. His kind of live and death lifestyle made him grow up very fast, unfortunately it also made those around his age group seem very childish in comparison. How could he whine about homework with his peers when there was a chance of dying every night and those same physics principles could give him valuable insight on how to better utilize his magic to let him see the next morning.

 

Combined with his frequent moving in foster care, it made for a decidedly friendless childhood. That wasn’t even counting the adults. To begin with, his lack of emoting made them very uncomfortable. And then there was the damage Dark Hour left on him. Inexplicable broken bones from ‘falls down stairs’, enough that one of his foster houses was investigated for abuse. Dia couldn’t fix broken bones. Bruises that were brushed off as him being anemic. Always suffering from slight blood loss anyway because of cuts gained in battle. Being put suspected of suicidal tendencies because of his scar collection.

 

Thankfully as time had gone on, he had learnt how to heal better, fight better and hide injuries better.

 

His _strangeness_ was still on record though, so people were still wary of him.

 

Not that he'd ever needed any _human_ friends...

 

            With a suffering sigh, he adjusted his grip on his bag and stared at the steps. He was ridiculously tired and it had nothing to do with his current surroundings. Traveling for nearly twelve hours left him in a near state of collapse that hadn't been apparent in his movements. With another groan, he realized that the dorm members wouldn't be awake and he'd have to wait for the night to return to normal before getting a room. Silently, he mustered energy to pull himself up the stairs and shove open the door.

 

            The lobby was dark, lit by the green glow that he knew so well filtering through the windows. He surveyed his surroundings with approval. It was a rather posh setting but not too overdone, the furniture and decorations were tasteful despite what he knew was a truly exorbitant price tag. To his great relief he noted that there were no coffins in the Lobby. There would be no need to hatch together a pack of lies to cover his sudden appearance at the hour's end. On the other hand, that also meant that no one had stayed up to greet the new student and give him a room.

 

“You're late. I've been waiting a long time for you.”

 

            The young man turned around to face the desk, not even jumping in surprise at the suddenness of the voice. The new tenant let out another sigh before dropping his bags with a dull thud. The appearance of a strange child in prison clothes now smiling behind the reception desk didn't seem to faze him in the slightest. In fact, from his yawn, he seemed to be more concerned with finding a bed to sleep in than wondering about the sudden appearance of a creepy kid. Said child studied him with otherworldly dual coloured blue eyes, the inner iris a deep blue similar to the student’s hair colour and the outer iris a bright almost glowing electric blue.

 

“Sure you have Pharos.” The boy responded easily, trying to blink away his weariness.

 

Pharos pouted. “You were taking forever to walk here, Minato.”

 

The student, now labeled Minato, just shrugged noncommittally.

 

“Now if you want to proceed, please sign your name there. It's a contract. Don't worry, all it says is that you'll accept full responsibility for your actions. You know, the usual stuff.”

 

Minato shuffled closer to the desk to stare at the deceptive single slip of paper. A single line to seal his fate. He nearly snorted at the contract before him.

 

“A Velvet Room Contract? Why would I need to sign one after all this time?”

 

Pharos smiled knowingly at him. With a slightly bemused huff, he gave in and started to look for a writing implement. After a few minutes of digging in pockets while Pharos watched in amusement, he managed to procure a pen. With another scan of the contract to make sure he wasn't selling his soul to the devil, he signed _Minato Arisato_ as neat as he could manage on the dotted line. Which is to say, it was polite chicken scratch.

 

Pharos smiled cryptically. “No one can escape time. It delivers us all to the same end. You can't plug your ears and cover your eyes. Though I doubt I need to tell _you_ that.”

 

He picked up the contract and closed the binder. Turning it to the side, it vanished from his grip. Once again Minato hardly seemed fazed by the sudden disappearance of the contract. He did tilt his head briefly to acknowledge the boy however. The simple motion caused his creepy grin to evolve into a full-fledged beaming smile.

 

“And so it begins.”

 

Cheerfully saying his farewell with an ominous statement, the boy faded away into the shadows with a childish giggle leaving no trace of his existence. For the first time since arriving Minato showed a sliver of emotion in a fond smile twitching his lips.

 

“…Dramatic kid.”

 

He shuffled back to his bags to drag them over to the couch. With no residents around he planned on crashing for the night on the extremely comfortable looking couch. In his state, he was willing to sleep on the floor. Suddenly his plans for sleep were once again shattered when a voice broke the night's silence.

 

“Who's there?!”

 

            Minato whirled with an irritated growl, his book snapping open and an almost feral gleam appearing in his eyes. That was the second interruption that night and he was beginning to get annoyed. While he might tolerate it from Pharos, someone else was another matter. A girl in a pink sweater was standing on the stairs looking scared out of her wits at his quick reaction. The young man's eyes narrowed briefly, sizing her up.

 

            At first glance, she was a plain good looking teenage girl with light brown hair. However, holstered obviously on her thigh was a handgun. It looked incredibly out of place on her. The look in her eye was too frantic for her to have any experience or training with the weapon. The extremely short skirt and stylish pink jacket further cemented that this was a popular girl trying to play at warrior.

 

An inhale brought a strong scent of heavy floral perfume that almost worked to block the underlying scent of weak magic.

 

_Persona user? Hmm...Wind natured I’m guessing…Very low level..._

 

            With a dismissive snort, he snapped his tome shut and relaxed. As much as he was annoyed at another interrupter of his plans to collapse into a puddle and sleep for four days, he might get an actual bed now.

            The girl spluttered some nonsense before reaching for the gun, which considering that she was a wobbly, fresh new Persona user, was probably an evoker. Just to be sure, even though it was unlikely she could even muster enough courage pull the trigger, he quickly switched to a wind resistant Persona. Being cautious had saved his life before and he wasn't going to stop now. Before she could do anything, a voice called out.

“Takeba, Wait!”

At that moment, the Dark Hour melted away.


	2. A Suspicious Gathering of Persona Users

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minato moves in to the dorms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, reposting these reminds me of how bad my writing used to be. These chapters aren't cringe-worthy but they could use a lot of work. I also think I started out shipping Minato and Mitsuru but as time went on, I got more leery of writing any pairing at all. Enough so that my ironclad OTP Shinji and Hamuko/Minako wasn't inspiring me either.

X

_Summoner- One who can summon Personas from a Compendium directly without being related to the Persona itself. The residents of the Velvet Room are a good example, all of them are Summoners. Summoner are usually 'blank' cards (See Blank Cards) with the sole exception of Minato. Summoners/Blank Cards should not be confused with a Wild Card._

X

A stunning redhead walked down the stairs with a regal swagger. With gorgeous curled locks and an imperial gaze, she gave a faux friendly smile to the newcomer, her scarlet eyes cold and calculating. A set of bangs fell stylishly across one of her eyes in a similar manner to his own.

 

Minato gave her a searching glance. A slight sniff of her aura nearly froze his nose with how sharp it was and he hid the wince. She was powerful, not stronger than him, but closer than he’d ever seen before. Strong willed and obviously sharply intelligent, a lethal combination. A subtle hint of danger lay interlaced with the formidable frosty aura of her Persona.

 

He mentally made a note to never cross her. It wouldn’t do to have the full weight of her Empress authority bearing down on him. Not that he feared it per say, it just would be very inconvenient.

 

As she reached the ground, he realized, with a little irritation that she towered over him. The high heeled boots didn’t help either. Thankfully, though Yukari was also taller, it was less obvious. He was very short for his age and gender, he had no idea if genetics had contributed but his fiendishly high metabolism due to nightly ‘exercise’ and several rough years with a lacking diet had probably stunted his growth. Most of the food he ate was fueled directly into producing magic that in turn kept his body from falling apart. Growth wasn’t very high on the priority scale. Now days he made up for it by eating the most calorie high and unhealthy foods he could get his hands on. He was still significantly shorter than most other boys his age and most girls as well. He wasn’t particularly bothered by that though, even though his lack of height reduced his range in combat, it also made him really hard to hit and that was more important since he relied more heavily on magic anyway. If he was in physical range he was doing it wrong.

 

He stared her down, not willing to back down.

 

“I didn't think you'd arrive so late. I apologize that no one was here to greet you, we merely stepped upstairs for a moment. My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students who live in this dorm.”

 

“...Who's he?” The brunette asked cautiously, still fingering her gun.

 

“He's a transfer student. It was a last-minute decision to assign him here. He'll eventually be moved to a room in the boys' dorm.”

 

“This isn't a girl's dorm, is it?” He asked hesitantly. That would be very awkward.

 

Mitsuru shook her head in amusement. “No. It's a Co-ed dorm. There is another male senior staying here as well.”

 

“...Sempai, is it really okay for him to be here?” The still unnamed brunette uneasily asked. 

 

The senior raked her gaze over the new student. “We'll see...oh yes, this is Yukari Takeba. She'll be a Junior this spring, just like you.”

 

“...Hey.” With an obvious distrustful aura, the girl in the Pink sweater continued to eye him with doubt.

 

Ignoring the hostility, he bobbed his head in acknowledgment. “Minato Arisato.”

 

            Seeing the itchy trigger finger girl looking decidedly uncomfortable he almost smiled. Deciding to see if they were quick on their feet, he shoved his hands back in his pockets. Rocking back on his heels to reduce his constant battle ready posture, he nearly smirked. He let himself slouch and allowed tiredness to bleed through his mask. Time to play the clueless and harmless civilian.

 

“Nice gun.”

 

“Um, well...” She was flailing for something to say. It was mildly entertaining.

 

“It’s not real.” Mitsuru interjected, gesturing to her own holster on her hip. “You know how it is these days. It’s for self-defense.”

 

            He nodded in approval of the quick thinking and confident aura. If he hadn't known their true purpose he might have believed her. Definitely someone to be cautious of. Spotting a flaw in her reason he voiced it without fear, intrigued at what her reaction would be. Yukari was utterly forgotten, his threat radar barely registering her.

 

He stared at the guns letting a sliver of doubt appear on his mask. “Wouldn't it just be better to learn self-defense or martial arts?”

 

            A sliver of approval and intrigue flitted across her schooled features. “It is a lot simpler to just carry a deterrent. However, our other dormmate, Akihiko Sanada, is a boxer. Both of us have trained in offensive sports.”

 

He hummed, nodding his head at the information. The swaying on his feet wasn't entirely faked at the moment. He was dead tired. The little fishing he was doing for information was draining his energy even more. Noticing his exhaustion Mitsuru took pity on him.

 

“It's getting late, so you should get some rest. Your room is on the second floor, at the end of the hallway. Your things should already be there.”

 

He could barely comprehend the directions and stayed staring at her. The red head's tone became faintly concerned.

 

“Are you alright?”

 

“I... don’t think I could find my room in the state I'm in...” He admitted ruefully. “I had to travel quite a way…”

 

With a silent command by the Upperclassman, his new classmate piped up. “Oh, I guess I'll show you to your room then. Follow me.”

 

            Noting her disgruntled tone, he silently picked up his bag and began to follow her. She seemed like the type to anger over the littlest thing. She was too weak to be a threat to someone like himself but given time, she could truly be a terror. If she wasn't already one to normal people.

 

            At the back of his mind, he realized that the two girls were fairly good looking and were probably popular in school and he was _going to be staying in their dorm_. He internally groaned, this would bring a lot of negative attention on him from the male portion of his peers. He much preferred flying under the radar of the school population, but it seemed like, for this school at least, the choice was taken out of his hands. Silently bemoaning the future harassment, he obediently followed Takeba up the stairs.

 

Along the way he caught the strong scent of scent of ozone, sweat and blood coming from one of the other rooms. Hints of another persona user, though the smell wasn’t strong enough to indicate that he was still in the room. Considering that the dark hour was over, he was probably coming back from patrol.

 

This was getting more and more suspicious. Two was coincidence but three was enemy action. It wasn’t a very common condition. The twisted mindset was easy to find, especially among angsty and issue ridden teenagers. The few who woke rarely lasted long on their own. Lacking backup made a difference, especially if their persona couldn’t heal. There was also the tactical disadvantage of not having anyone at your back. No one to take watch during the dark hour to let the other person sleep or offer a second element to offense. Both which were more important than they sounded. If Minato wasn’t a Wild Card, survival would’ve been incredible difficult. Most people were stuck with one element, and if a shadow immune to it happened to come along…well that would be it. An hour was a long time to try and evade something that could brush off your attacks.

 

Of the few persona users he had met in the past ten years, three weren’t mentally strong enough to make it through the acclimating period, where their body rebelled against the distortion and made them disoriented and weak. It was almost like the effects of a concussion. Years ago, a nameless powerful kid several years older than him had helped him through the night when his body had been breaking down. Unfortunately, common sense said that despite his power, it was unlikely that that kid had survived to adulthood.

 

Three and now four Persona users grouped together spoke of external meddling. It also made him doubly wary, how were they tracking them down? How had they selected him for this dorm? Were they just rotating students through the dorm until they hit success? Did they read his disaster ridden file and guess? It read like a horribly troubled student fraught with abuse reports and suspected suicidal tendencies but coupled with how it detailed exactly _how_ he ended up in foster care, it would make anyone in the know horribly curious.

 

Making her way past the room that fairly stank of a physical and electric user to his sensitive nose, Takeba finally reached the room at the end of the corridor.

 

“This is it...It’s at the end of the hall so it'd be pretty hard to forget.” She chuckled awkwardly. “Oh yeah, make sure you don't lose your key, or you'll never hear the end of it... So, any questions?”

 

“Can you tell me the house rules in the morning?” He yawned again. “I won't remember anything now.”

 

“Huh.” She eyed him calculatedly. He wouldn't remember anything, huh?

 

Perfectly aware of her calculated gaze, he slouched some more and cracked another yawn. Being dead on his feet could not get rid of his habit of probing for information. Information was life in the Dark Hour. If you didn’t know what weakness a shadow had, you could hit it with a spell and possibly heal it and that was never fun.

 

“Um...Can I ask you something?”

 

“You just did.” He sighed.

 

“What?” Deciding to ignore the weird new transfer student, she continued speaking. “On your way here from the station, was everything okay?”

 

“Okay?” He stared flatly at her.

 

He fidgeted under his unimpressed gaze. “Yeah, like…like…uh…”

 

He huffed and decided to spare her further embarrassment. “No, there were coffins and blood in the streets.” He deadpanned. This was utterly useless, she knew nothing. She was clumsily trying to probe him for information, to see how much he knew without outright asking. He nearly scoffed at her poor attempt.

 

She seemed shell shocked by his words but that was the effect he was going for. She would most likely run to report to her upperclassmen about his response. It would make them wary about him, but meeting them in the dark hour almost guaranteed that they already knew he could operate in the dark hour. The casual dismissal would throw them off. If they thought that he only believed the dark hour to be a product of extreme tiredness, they would underestimate what he knew.

 

He met her startled gaze and smiled stiffly in polite dismissal.

 

_The ball is in your court, strange group of Persona Users._

 

“I must've been tired. Goodnight Takeba-san.”

 

            He instantly slammed the door on her face. Resting his head against the door, he listened. Several minutes later, rapid footsteps raced away from his door. A tiny smirk graced his face. A cursory glance confirmed his belongings were boxed neatly in a pile and untouched. The bag slipped from his fingers to land with a dull thud on the ground.

 

Deciding that he was exhausted, he eyed the pillow with happiness. Wasting no time, he kicked off his boots and flung himself on the bed. He allowed himself to luxuriate at _finally_ being off his feet, before he feebly yanked at the covers. He flopped around until he was safely burrowed beneath the warmth and finally relaxed. The pillow smelt harsh and new but between one breath and the next, he slipped away into slumber.

X

X


	3. First Day of Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minato unwillingly goes to High school. While there he finds a fourth Persona User. He is certain his acceptance to this school is a trap now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just don't expect a Minato X Yukari one because I'm not too fond of her and I don't think my version of Minato would get along with her. As shown by the first part of the chapter.

* * *

X

 _Blank Card_ _\- The owner has no innate Persona/Mask. A rarer condition than it sounds. Not to be confused with a Wild Card which can also summon multiple Personae, however they DO have an initial Persona. As a Blank Card has no initial Persona, they can easily summon any kind of Persona once they have access to a Fool's collection (their compendium). Because of their condition they are also able to perform fusions between Persona or Demons at a very high level of difficulty and complexity. It is possible for Wild Cards to learn how to fuse but it is impossible for them to manage anything greater than a triangle spread. (See the Symbiosis of Summoners and Wild Cards)._

X

4/7/09

“Welcome to Gekkoukan High School. Hope you like it!”

 

The still slightly unsteady boy kneaded his forehead in irritation. “Takeba-san, It’s a SCHOOL. They’re not designed to be likeable.”

 

He could admit that the facilities were impressive. Massive buildings of shining steel and glass framed by numerous flowering Sakura trees. It was surely an expensive school for the elite, funded by the equally elitist Kirijo Group. Graduates were guaranteed to have a bright future backed by their name.

 

But honestly, he could think of a lot of more productive things he could be doing. Scouting the area to prepare for eventual dark hour street combat. Despite Tartarus’s presence drawing most of the shadows to it, that didn’t mean there weren’t ones in the city, there was just a lesser amount of wilder shadows. Minato would prefer to know about their patterns and habits before it became vitally necessary. Shuffling and organizing his Compendium. Practicing magic. Snooping around to find who had put him in a dorm with three other Persona Users. Hawking items dropped from shadows for sizeable cash.

 

But no, he still had another year before he turned eighteen and was released from foster care. As a ‘troubled youth’ he was monitored too closely to slip out of normal society and live fully in the supernatural societies where he would no longer be judged for his age. They valued power more than appearance, especially since Lucifer thought it amusing to occasionally traipse around as a small blond angelic boy. No one would dare mess with anyone who appeared to be young or naïve for fear of biting off more than they could chew. This habit actually made the supernatural societies oddly safe for children.

 

            Getting to sleep after midnight and then being woken up at six in the morning had done nothing for Minato's characteristic sarcasm. There were few things that the generally uncaring boy valued; Sleep, food and his precious book. Long before, his family had been somewhere on that list but that had been before the tragedy where he lost them but also lost his real last name and any chance of finding any other relatives.

 

This girl had managed to deprive him of SLEEP, chase him out of the dorm WITHOUT BREAKFAST and had tried to get him to leave his Tome home.

 

…

….

 

Needless to say, Yukari was not Minato's most favourite person at the moment.

 

            And to add to his sulk, she wore the same loud pink sweater she had worn the night before (Which he was nearly sure was against school rules). He was beginning to hate that cheerful pink colour. On any other day, he would’ve barely noted it. Today was not a good day in any sense of the word, his mood was in the basement. In the manner of any non-morning person confronted by an overly cheerful early bird, he mentally plotted murder. She had obliviously ignored the dark glares and muttering of death threats on the whole walk and train ride to the school.

 

She was either very indifferent or very oblivious...

 

            Enthusiasm deflating slightly at the sarcasm, she just continued to the shoe lockers. Before she could speak he quickly spoke up. His quiet voice betrayed none of the annoyance he had towards her. His face had gone completely blank, hardening his outer appearance to prepare to rub shoulders with far more people than he was comfortable with.

 

“I'll be fine from here.”

 

His head was swinging, taking in all the sights with a cautious air. He hated school. Teenagers had no concept of personal space. They were also loud and disruptive. It was making him twitchy. With an utterly emotionless face he shifted his bag and nodded in thanks to his temporary guide.

 

“Faculty office?”

 

            She pointed to her left and he nodded again. He left her there, drawing up his shields even tighter the instant he stepped away. A mask of utter indifference and poise quickly fixing on his face. Drawing himself up, he slipped around the crowd, uncomfortable with the press of too many bodies. The faculty office was in plain sight now that he knew where it was.

 

Drifting past the French boy and... teacher...wearing a very impressive samurai helmet, he knocked politely on the door and entered the Faculty office.

 

            The day was so utterly boring and forgettable that he slept through most of it, still travel-lagged and sleep deprived. From the moment that Principle started to drone the MP3 was instantly playing a soothing tune. Blocking out the speeches with ease he slipped into the grasp of his old friend Morpheus.

 

Assembly? Slept.

 

Morning Class? Slept.

 

Lunch? He nearly slept through that too. He promptly went and bought out the cafeteria's entire supply of melon bread to the poor lady's shock. And half the school's too. Bread was a good dark hour snack and he felt a little cheerful that he could buy convenient tasty rolls at a good price.

 

Afternoon Classes, full on a dozen of the tasty things, with a nice sunbeam angled just _so_ through his window, there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that he stayed awake.  

 

            Automatically, he shifted awake at the sound of dozens of students packing up and chattering. Totally unconcerned by the fact he slept through the entire day, he began to gather up his belongings. It didn’t take very long. He hadn’t taken out his books to begin with. Blinking down at his desk he came to the slightly embarrassing conclusion that he had fallen asleep on his precious tome. He quickly wiped off the accumulated drool. With a sigh, he reached for his book bag and slung it over his shoulder. About to properly get up to leave, he was stopped by a shadow falling over his desk.

 

“S'up, dude? How's it goin'?”

 

            He stared at the scruffy boy wearing a baseball cap, assessing him. Just from his untidy method of dress, he could tell the boy was quite carefree. And though he had a growing goatee which made him look a lot older than their classmates, he had a wide friendly grin. Minato could tell he was a pretty well-meaning guy, but a further cautionary sniff made him frown. A growing scent of spice and steel made him very suspicious. It was faint. Something easily dismissed as having a spicy lunch or handling too much metal but a scent that sharp that no one else reacted to could not originate from the physical plane. He was certain that a Persona was roiling near to the surface of the boy's consciousness. Not quite manifested but nearly. This made _four_ Persona Users in one city. He was not liking these odds. Something was _not right_ with this city.

 

He thought about the boy's question and answered in his usual deadpan.

 

“I’m good. Who are you?”

 

“Heh,” He looked at Minato oddly for a second before becoming exuberant to introduce himself. “I'm Junpei Iori. I got transferred here in eighth grade. I know what it’s like to be the new kid so I wanted to say 'hey'!...See what a nice guy I am!”

 

            Minato almost smiled at the characteristic behavior of a Magician. He could tell the budding user’s Arcana from the moment he opened his mouth, Magicians had a certain way of interacting with the world that was entertaining to watch. Then Yukari entered the classroom and his amusement quickly faded as he watched the exasperated glare she was shooting his new friend. 

 

“Hey, it's Yuka-tan! I didn't think we'd be in the same class again.”

 

Minato let out a slight snigger at the nickname. Junpei didn't seem like the type to know about geography so he wouldn't notice the unintentional geographical joke at the nickname. Yuka-tan? Yucatan?

 

She sighed “At it again, huh? I swear, you'll talk to anyone if they'll listen. Did you ever think you might be bothering someone?”

 

“What? But I was just bein' friendly.”

 

“Its no big deal Takeba-san. Iori-san was just being polite.” He cut in, unwilling to leave the boy at her unwarranted mercy.

 

Another strange look was thrown his way at his formal speech. “Dude, just call me Junpei.”

 

He bobbed his head in acceptance. Formal speech was generally very useful at keeping people at arm’s length from him but from this budding Persona User, he could allow it. After all, give it a week or two and he would be one of the few people able to relate with his unique night experiences. He would have to remember to keep an eye on him to help him through the Awakening.

 

“Okay Junpei-kun.”

 

“Drop the 'kun' too!”

 

“Alright then, Junpei. You probably heard but I'm Minato Arisato.”

 

“Alright Minato, you can be my new best friend!”

 

            The stoic teenager looked at his new self-appointed best friend in amusement. This was new. This Magician had something different about him. It probably had to do with his developing Persona, he had never met a Magician Persona-User. The fact he was developing one meant that he was well aware of the darkness in his own heart or ‘shadow’ and was working on accepting or overcoming that flaw and harnessing it into a useful Persona. By Tarot Card, Minato was assuming that he was struggling with the Magician’s fatal flaw of jealousy. Of course, he could still be entirely wrong with his guess but he could only tell so much from a scent and basic observation.

 

“Why not?” He shrugged, a smile breaking across his face.

 

“Woah!” Junpei grinned. “I got you to smile!”

 

            Instantly, his face sobered but the amusement remained glinting in his mercury gaze. The Magician could still tell the other boy was greatly amused. He didn't know why he had felt to approach the transfer student but he was glad he did.

 

 _But still,_ Junpei thought to himself, _Why does he feel so...different?_

The blue haired enigma had coolly walked to school with Yukari, slept through all the classes and had eaten out the cafeteria of Melon bread. In a single day, rumours were already running rampant. People were wondering at his lackadaisical and dismissive actions. How could someone be that uncaring and still get into a school as prestigious as Gekkoukan? Rumours were already racing about that he was a troubled genius. Or maybe he was related the Kirijos in some way. Assumptions were flying around that since he was housed in the dorm with the Kirijo Heiress that he was her fiancé he stories kept getting wilder the more they spread. The gossip mill hadn’t been more excited since they heard that Golden Boy Akihiko had moved into the Ice Queen Heiress’s dorm.

 

“Did you forget I was here?!?!” Yukari snapped, sounding highly affronted.

 

“My apologies Takeba-san but why _did_ you come over here?”

 

“I just wanted to say that it was nice we ended up in the same class!”

 

“Maybe it's Fate.”

 

Junpei would've laughed if not for the serious look in the other boy's eyes as he stared down at the huge book before him. Minato called it F.A.T.E. As in Flawed Attempted Trap Execution. He was certain now, this was a trap. Someone high up was gathering Persona Users for their own ends.

 

Yukari just scoffed. “Fate? Yeah, right. I'm still a little surprised.”

 

Junpei suddenly grinned evilly. “By the way, I heard you two came to school together this morning. What's up with that? C'mon, gimme the dirt!”

 

Minato leaned back and watched the other girl splutter with great amusement. He wasn’t going to say anything; with her fluster, she would undoubtedly dig herself into a hole of her own making.

 

“Wh-What are you talking about!? We live in the same dorm. There's nothing going on, okay? NOTHING. Why are people even talking about it!? Now you have me worried... Hey... You didn't say anything to anyone about... you know what, did you?”

 

He fixed her with a mildly amused gaze, rocking back in his seat. “I don't believe I know what you're talking about.”

 

“Don't tell me you forgot already!” She growled in annoyance.

 

“Forgot what?” He grinned innocently.

 

“Seriously... Don't say anything about last night, alright?” She reminded fiercely.

 

A devilish smirk cracking his facade caused her to rethink her statement. She turned to watch Junpei looking at her in mock horror.

 

“W-what?” She nervously stuttered. Junpei was staring at her like she was a ghost and the new kid was widely smirking.

 

“L-Last night...?”

 

“W-Wait a minute! Don't get the wrong idea! Listen! I just met him yesterday, and there's absolutely nothing between us! Geez... I've gotta go. I've got something to take care of for the archery team.      But, you better not start any rumors!”

 

The extremely flustered girl fled the room posthaste to Junpei's mad chortling and Minato's scary grin.

 

“Ah, who cares? No one takes rumors seriously, anyway. She's so paranoid... But, hey! It's your first day here, and people are already talkin' about you! Believe it or not, she's actually pretty popular. You da man! Heheh, this is gonna be a fun year. I can feel it!”

 

Minato shot a withering look at the door. “She's popular? How?”

 

“Ouch,” Junpei winced. “What'd she do to you?”

 

“Wake me up a six in the morning after arriving past midnight, make me leave without breakfast and had the AUDACITY to tell me to leave my book home.” He delivered in straight deadpan.

 

“Dude, I've been meaning to ask that. What IS that thing? It isn't a text book.”

 

“Ah. This was a very dear gift to me from someone very close to me. I carry it everywhere.”

 

“Man, it’s a book! A heavy one at that!” Junpei wildly gestured. “Why WOULD you carry it around?”

 

“The one who gave me it isn’t really around anymore.”

 

Silence.

 

“I'm sorry, I didn't-”

 

“-Know? It's quite alright, it was years ago.” He brushed off easily. It was true enough, Elizabeth _was_ no longer around. It was also easier to explain his strange attachment to the book if he explained it as the last gift from a precious person. People would be so busy tripping over themselves to apologize and try and make up for their social faux par that they wouldn't ask any more questions about it. He could keep it in the Velvet room, where it was _technically_ supposed to be, but it was easier to keep his greatest weapon on hand. Even though it was broad daylight, where Dark Hour shadows couldn’t reach, there were other supernatural forces that weren’t restricted by such things.

 

“Oh...er...so, um, what's it about?” Junpei stumbled trying to break the awkward silence.

 

Minato smiled. “Tarot cards.”

 

“What-? So you can tell the future?”

 

He snorted a tiny laugh. “Not like that. For example,”

 

For the first time ever, Minato showed his Compendium to a human. Flipping opened the well-worn pages to a spot near the front of the book he pointed to the tarot labeled one.

 

“-That's you.”

 

Junpei leaned closer over the book, getting interested.

 

He started to read aloud. “Magician Arcana. Associated with action, initiative, self-confidence, manipulation and power. Woah, I sound cool!”

 

Minato just grinned and tapped the bottom of the page.

 

“Fatal flaw of arrogance and – hey!”

 

With a bark of laughter, Minato ducked under Junpei's arm and swiped up his bag and tome. Cackling insanely, he raced out of the classroom with Junpei hot on his heels and yelling pointless insults. This kind of lighthearted teasing between friends was something he had missed.

 

It felt good to have a friend.

 

_CRACK!_

_Your acceptance of this Magician's friendship has awoken a new Social Link._

_Thou shalt be blessed when summoning Personas of the Magician Arcana._

_Magician Social Link Rank 1_

* * *

**X**

**X**

**And the first of the story Social Links start. He does have a few Max links, (around four) but that is it. All his other friendships were never completed and they faded as he moved away. Listing the Four full social links would be kinda spoilery right now.  
**

**Ideas for Social Links are also appreciated.**

**Don't be mistaken. He'd be powerful. But just not all powerful and will have weaknesses and weak moments.**

**Thanks for Reading! :)**


	4. Velvet Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More theories on Social Links. Minato makes his stalkers very confused. Velvet room meeting. Enjoy the headcannoning. Feel free to comment.

X

X

 _ **The Symbiosis of Summoners and Wild Cards** -_ _As you have no doubt noticed, Summoners and Wild Cards are heavily reliant on each other. Wild Cards collect Personas through various means, when they run out of space in their Psyche, the Summoners store the extra Personas in the Compendium. The Summoners are then able to use the stored Personas as if they were their own. The Wild Cards cannot access the Personas in the Compendium and need the Summoners to do so. And since the Summoners/Blank cards have no Persona, they need a Wild Card to collect Personas for them to use. The Summoner of the partnership always holds the Compendium._ _Each Wild Card has a Summoner partner._

_Without a Summoner Partner to siphon off the excess, an active Wild Card would acquire too many Personae for their psyche to handle. The extreme mental stress would cause their magic to go haywire as the different shards of self, fought within the Fool's mindscape. They may also display symptoms of schizophrenia or extreme forgetfulness. Depending on the Personas acquired, they can become very violent. This can also happen if a Wild Card doesn't visit their Blank for a long period of time. Persona suppressants can dull the effects and reduce the pressure on the Psyche but they carry their own side effects.  
_

X

* * *

4/8/09

 

            After a full night's sleep in a marvelously comfortable bed, Minato woke feeling slightly more charitable towards the universe. This new-found bliss from not being sleep deprived did not mean that he would walk to school with the girl that ruined his yesterday. To prevent any kind of polite invitation, he left the dorm that morning through the window.

 

It was only the second floor after all.

 

A nearby bush cushioned his bag and he easily made him way down the side of the building. Red brick had plenty of gaps to use as finger and footholds. The large arching windows of the first floor were a bit of a nuisance but the decorative concrete in between them was sturdy enough for him to use the small ledges of the design to make the final part of his descent not too difficult. Thankfully, the windows had heavy curtains still drawn closed at this time of morning. Not one would be able to spot him from the lobby. The people on the street hadn’t noticed him either, a tree blocked the line of sight to that part of the building and most people were too drowsy or too preoccupied to care.

 

Junpei had been very helpful the day before, giving him an impromptu tour of Port Island and the surrounding area. He had pointed out all the good spots, bad spots and methods to get by in the city. Little tricks that only locals would know, like how the train to the shopping areas was usually ten minutes off schedule on mornings. He enjoyed it, despite himself.

 

Junpei was bright, lively and had the ability to shamelessly try and pick up any girl that crossed their path. Some of the lines the persistent magician had spouted had given him secondhand embarrassment to just be in the vicinity of them. He could admit that some of them were witty though. It was great entertainment to watch him get shot down continuously by girls. Junpei showed remarkable resilience and politeness with his hunt, he brushed off rejection easily but he wasn’t overly persistent, aggressive or crass to the girls. It was easy to see that he wasn’t taking it seriously and the few girls that rebutted obviously didn’t take him seriously either. Minato couldn’t begrudge the hopeless guy his fun when he was being nice enough to show him around, but he drew the line at joining in.

 

            Perhaps later he could allow one of his flirtier Personae to influence his behaviour enough so that he could join in on the game without feeling mortified and socially awkward. He could faintly hear Personae cackling in the back of his mind at the failed attempts. They seemed to be very amused at the free comedy show they were getting. Minato could honestly say he had more non-Dark Hour fun on that single outing then he had experienced in the past ten years of his life. One could never discount the sheer silliness that sometimes could occur during the time of monsters. The mundane hours had never been much fun for him, but Junpei seemed to be changing that.

 

It was the oddest thing.

 

            Perhaps the call of binding to someone with a Persona was stronger than he thought. Like an evolutionary instinct to band together to increase the likelihood of surviving the Dark Hour, he seemed unusually pulled to form a strong social link with his new Magician. He could tell that Junpei was feeling it too, even if it was his personality to be welcoming, he was warming up far too quickly for it to be normal. Junpei was constantly in his space, alternating between mother-henning and far too much physical contact. It was fascinating to watch; Minato had never been acquainted with an awakening Persona User so all the behaviour was quite new to him. Eventually Junpei would awaken to his world and he would have less to hide from him then any regular companion. It was nothing like the fragile Social Links that he had nursed over the years for them to irreversibly shatter. Eventually he had gone out of his way to stop building the links at all. But this new Magician’s link had a solid foundation to build from. And hopefully, his support would prevent Junpei from losing his life in the early days of manifestation. The disorientation and nausea that their first breeching of the Dark Hour caused made them easy targets for hungry shadows.

 

His journey to school was short and mostly spent listening to music on his MP3 and ignoring the world. Walking straight past the girls gossiping at the front gate, he noticed something strange.

 

            A rather large number of girls appeared to be eagerly awaiting someone. He remembered those kinds of looks from his last school. There had been some hotshot rich boy in the upper year that had always sent the girls into a tizzy. Fangirls. He felt sorry for whoever their victim was.  Carefully stepping around the hoard he quickly began to move into the school building, it would not do for them to notice him. He had a kind of bishounen face that made him easy prey for girls like that. He didn’t want that kind of romantic attention and had learnt to cover his face with his bangs to prevent the hassle. He made it to the door before he heard the high-pitched squeal of dozens of teenage girls.

 

“Akihiko-sama~!”

 

            Minato only caught a flash of silver hair before the poor boy, whoever he was, was mugged by his zealous followers. He stopped and bowing his head and clapping his hands together to pay respects to the poor unfortunate soul.

 

“Poor guy.”

 

Thankful that he still remained an unknown, he happily continued on towards his class.

 X

* * *

X

            The school day was just as dull as the previous one. There was a brief bit of excitement with Junpei getting asked a question in Composition. He had prompted the correct answer to his struggling friend before settling down to go back to sleep. The dullness was kind of relaxing, none of the teachers seemed interested in waking him up when he slept in their classes, so he was able to rest and restore his energy. When he wasn’t napping, he was writing shorthand on scraps of paper. Anything from tactical notes to magical element theory. He kept his brain occupied and working on problems relevant to his survival, occasionally keeping an ear out for science and history and any subject that had anything useful to offer his tactics.

 

For lack of anything better to do, he contemplated the strangeness of the city. Four Persona users already present in the same school, nearly all in the same dorm. A tall, twisted tower that rose up from the skyline. He needed more information to make solid plans. The next step would be to find that information, a scouting run of the city and an investigation of the tower were the obvious next steps. The other Persona Users wouldn’t be much of a threat or hindrance to him. They appeared to be independently operating and would be fine on their own. He saw no need to make himself known to them and step in to offer aid.

 

A plan of action decided, he made his way to his ‘temporary’ lodgings. With a sigh, he pushed open the door to the dorm, preparing to deal with the pushy Yukari and calculating Mitsuru. Hopefully, this time he would get to meet the third member of the dorms, the boy who smelt of beaten iron and ozone crackle and the sweat of hard work.

 

However, the person inside the dorm lobby was someone he never expected to see again.

 

            Sitting harmlessly next to Yukari on the lobby couch was a familiar face. Brown hair, glasses and a generic brown suit paired with a disarming smile...It could be no one else. It had been years and the man hadn’t aged well but he knew him. Minato instantly killed all emotion in his face and relaxed his tense stance. He could not afford to betray himself in the slightest amount. He recognized that man. He recognized that foul stench burning his nostrils. The cloying scent of rotting filled his nose, overpowering the strong scents of the other Persona Users.

 

Deep on the inside, where the emotion would never show on the surface, he was furiously seething. His fury had skipped the irrational stage and gone straight to wondering exactly _why_ he couldn’t just gut the man. Unfortunately, common sense prevailed. If the man was here, he was obviously under the protection of the Kirijo Group. Minato acknowledged he was good, but he didn’t think he was that good to get away with killing the man without proof. Kirijo had _resources_. For all his magic skills, he still needed to eat and sleep. As satisfying as it would be, he couldn’t _eat_ vengeance.

 

“Oh, he's back.” Yukari smiled cautiously at him. He paid her no mind, all his attention focused on her companion.

 

“So, this is our new guest...”

 

Just listening to the man talk made him feel to take a bath. Everything about the corrupted scientist made him feel dirty and so...unclean to his very core. He had been like that even seven years ago, talking absolute filth with a pleasant smile on his face. Now the question was, would he recognize Minato? He had changed from the incident seven years ago, but was it enough to disguise him? His hair length, colour and style had drastically changed. His entire demeanor was the furthest thing from the bedraggled, malnourished and desperate child he had been in that alleyway.

 

The two stood from their seats and the man started to introduce himself.

 

“Good evening. My name is Shuji Ikutsuki.”

 

Minato relaxed a small amount, the ever-so-slight gathering of magic at his fingertips fading away. The impersonal generic greeting confirmed it. He didn't recognize the boy who he had tried to second-hand murder all those years ago.

 

“I'm the Chairman of the Board for your school. "Ikutsuki"...Hard to say, isn't it? That's why I don't like introducing myself. Even I get tongue-tied sometimes...Please, have a seat.”

 

“There's no need.” Minato said coolly. “I have no questions about my situation. It is...nice to meet you but I have homework to do.”

 

“Wow!” The man smiled, Minato crushed the urge to unload a magical nuke in his face. “Another studious one?”

 

Minato merely shrugged and began to make his way towards the stairs.

 

“Well, you must be tired from all the excitement. You should go to bed early. As they say, “The early bird catches the bookworm!” ...Please forgive the bad pun.”

 

            Minato kept his face completely blank as he walked up the stairs. A direct contrast to the deep roiling hatred that was all in favour of storming back down the stairs and gutting the man with a spoon. Entertaining images of such a feat managed to calm him down rather well.

 

            What assignments he had were lazily accomplished with surprising speed on complete auto pilot. He had an uncomfortable feeling of being watched crackling along his nerves, a feeling one learnt to sense very quickly in the Dark Hour. He couldn’t smell anything odd though. It was strange someone would be studying him at daytime, where his unremarkable and forgettable Persona would not draw attention. He took a discrete glance around, even checking out the window as he put his books away. With Ikutsuki's comment earlier he knew that he might be being watched. They wanted him to sleep while they observed. Probably to discover if he was aware of the Dark Hour. They were attempting to Midwife what they thought was a possible awakening.

 

He didn’t have to guess this time, Ikutsuki was undoubtedly the cause of the odd gathering of Persona users. He was _collecting_ and Minato was wary of folding in with him again. That kind of thing was dangerous and left people willing to eat poison that caused slow organ failure. He had half a mind to just remove himself from the situation entirely. Just get up and leave. Take the train far away and live on the streets again, avoid social services until he became legal. Just go _nope, not doing this, nope, nope, nope_.

 

But if he did that, this group of persona users would be consigned to a horrible fate and that _smug_ **arrogant _bastard_** would still be alive. He would go on to collect another batch to murder and just keep going in his twisted game until he got what he wanted.

 

By the power of spite and _godamnit he’ll put himself through guiding a set of fledgling magic users for a chance to uproot that douche’s plans_. So, at that moment, he began preparing to deal with his dormmates. He couldn’t say that he was a Wild Card, Ikutsuki knew what that was. If it didn’t cause him to connect Minato to the wild card he murdered years before, it would still make the schemer try and kill him anyway. The man seemed to hate everything the Wild card stood for, mostly for its unpredictability and way of throwing a wrench in the most concrete of plans, something a schemer like him would hate.

 

Restricting his ability pool would be stupid and suicidal though. In the loosest of terms, Minato was a Summoner. He was halfway between a Wild Card and a Blank Card, able to both supply Personas to a Compendium and summon them. So, with that in mind, and playing on their extreme ignorance of spiritual matters, he was going to pass himself off as a Summoner and completely bullshit his way.

 

Feeling more confident with a clear plan of action, he started to settle into his room for the evening. His Gakuran was carelessly thrown over the back of the only chair in the room, followed by his bookbag and shoes to be retrieved the following morning. He settled neatly on the bed, loosening his clothes and drawing out a pack of Tarot cards from nowhere. Most people would write it off as sleight of hand, especially since it was a pack of cards.

 

            He shuffled the Persona cards gently, taking care with the reflections of ‘self’ sealed within. He couldn’t produce specific predictions like Igor was capable of. But with shards of Personae born from the sea of his soul acting as a medium, he could get very vague or immediate responses by drawing a single card. It could tell him if he was going to have a bad day, if someone was trustworthy, if he should fuse. It was very useful, since he didn’t usually have access to Igor.

 

            Comfortably tucking his feet under himself, he leaned back against the headboard. He breathed on the cards, drawing them close to his lips to hide the mist of blue energy that infused the cards with the motion. He closed his eyes for a moment, intoning the names all the personae in the deck. The cards softly glowed in response. He carefully laid the deck ontop his compendium, feeling the rush as they intimately connected with the physical representation of the sea of his soul. He clenched his hands to hide the crackle of blue energy between his fingers. The shuffling itself meant nothing as the physical placement of the cards meant nothing. The appropriate card would always be drawn. Carefully thinking of nothing, he flipped the first card.

 

Raijuu crackled softly at his fingertips. Tower Arcana. The foreteller of disaster. He almost laughed at the predicable result. He tucked the card back in the deck and flipped the next card.

 

The second card revealed a skull faced reaper atop a white horse. Pale Rider. The Arcana of Death was something he was well acquainted with, it being Pharos’ social link, one of the few he had maxed out to make unbreakable.

 

Despite what one would think, the Death arcana was not an omen of demise, or at least not usually. It was a sign of great change, regeneration and rebirth. There would be a great upheaval. However, this kind of fortunetelling was vague. This change could be to him, or it could be to the other Users from having him dropped in the middle of them, it could even indicate Junpei’s coming awakening.

 

Ordinarily this kind of prediction would drive someone to distraction. He was used to it. The point was not to find exactly what was going to happen, but to know that _something_ bad would happen. He could prepare for disaster instead.

 

Something very serious was afoot and he was right in the middle of it.

 

His stay in this city was certainly going to be interesting

 X

* * *

X

 

Yukari sighed as she shifted in her seat.

 

“When is he going to sleep?!”

 

            For the past hours, she had been treated to much of her enigmatic classmate's behaviour. None of it made sense. She was at least grateful that he hadn’t outright stripped in front of the cameras. That would have been too mortifying for her to handle! As it was, she had gotten an eyeful of scars on his arms when he rolled up his sleeves to unpack his room. No one could understand the card business either, the camera could only tell that the cards weren't playing cards. He had seemed to study the two cards he had flipped very intensely before clearing up the cards. No one saw where he put them either. It was like they had vanished but that would be ridiculous. 

 

            He had shoved aside the chair and moved the empty boxes to the corridor to create a nice empty space in the middle of the room. He quickly had set aside his uniform pants for the next day and quickly changed into looser exercise pants. He began to stretch and limber up. She could admit to herself that she was jealous of his flexibility. It was nothing freakishly impressive, like tying himself in knots, but it was still miles and miles better than anything she was capable of doing.

 

Fully warmed up, he started at the oddest training sequence she had ever seen.

 

He shadowboxed, ducking and twisting as well as he could in such a small space. He practiced what seemed to be basic kendo katas with a wooden sword, a _boken_ produced from among his luggage. He had practiced kicks and footwork after that, the motions unorthodox but quick, efficient and obviously well practiced. Yukari had a sickening feeling that Akihiko would love the new potential persona user. After finishing with a combo of kicks, he finally started to cool down, checking each of his worked over joints with a meticulousness that meant he had a previous injury at some point. When that was done, he finally headed out to bathe. He came back already dressed in a loose pair of pajamas.

            He sat cross legged on his bed, facing the camera. Taking that odd book of his onto his lap he closed his eyes. Mitsuru claimed he was most likely meditating. She could understand that, but he had been sitting like that for _three whole hours_.

 

            All without twitching or moving an inch. As if his mind had abandoned his body.

 

As Dark Hour struck the three observers eagerly leaned over the monitors. He didn't even open his eyes. He wasn't a coffin. Even as they watched, half way through Dark Hour he seemed to come back to himself. He stood up and gave his surroundings a brief glance. To the trio's surprise he was largely unconcerned by the scenery changes. He even yawned as he pulled the comforter up.

 

            He made as if to flop onto his bed in a more comfortable position. Then he paused. Turning his head directly to the camera, he gave them a totally blank gaze, dead eyes drilling into their souls.

He raised his arm up and.... gave them the finger.

 

            Mission accomplished, he burrowed into his bed and curled around his curious hardback. Every single person in the Control room stared at the feed in total shock. Shakily, Yukari asked the one question that was on all three's lips.

 

“H-how...?”

 

 X

* * *

X

 

 “Welcome to the Velvet Room, my dear young man.”

 

As soon as his eyes were opened he caught a flash of blue and the rattling of machinery before he was tackled off his chair.

 

“Mina-chan!”

 

“E-Elizabeth?”

 

            Clinging to his body was the unmistakable form of the Velvet Room attendant he had met so many years ago, appearance untouched from mortal hands of time. With her distinctive blue dress and golden hair, it would be hard to mistake her for someone other than a velvet room attendant. They had similar physical features and dress sense., Theo would never tackle someone and Margret would be too refined to do such a thing. By process of elimination, it could only be the incredibly childish attendant of the velvet room.

 

“Now, now Elizabeth,” An old, long-nosed man chided from his seat in a comfortable armchair. “Please treat our guest with more decorum.”

 

She hastily released her beholden summoner and straightened her clothes. “Ah...Forgive me.”

 

Minato waved it off, getting up and sitting back down on the chair with a smile. “Igor, It’s nice to see you again old man.”

 

“Likewise.” The man chuckled creepily, wide grin distorting his face.

 

“Um...” Minato began, looking around the elevator. “Where is everyone else...?”

 

“Unfortunately, everyone else is off on business right now.” Elizabeth smiled full of glee. “So, I have you all to myself! Do not worry though, I’m sure you will see them soon.”

 

Letting out a breath he relaxed. It was nice to know that all the residents were okay. Not that much could harm the overpowered clan of Blank cards but it was nice to know nothing bad had happened. “It's fine. It’s nice to see this place again.”

 

            He let his gaze travel around the new form of the Velvet Room. An elevator...? How strange. It must mean something about his journey. It had been a plain room the last time, though he was hazy on the details. Without a contract, it made sense that his unsanctioned visits hadn’t prompted a physical change in the room. His favourite part of the room, the colour scheme, had survived the change. The entire place was decked in his favourite shade of blue. A rich deep royal blue almost the same hue as his hair.

 

            Catching a glimpse of his arm, he realized that he no longer was wearing his pajamas. In place of the comfortable baggy clothes was his combat armour. He wasn’t very specific with his underclothes once it was easy to move in but he was particular about his actual over armour.  

 

“I see you repaired it.”

 

            The armour did not resemble armour at all, it appeared to be nothing more than a double-breasted greatcoat. It was plain enough to pass in regular society but resilient enough to brush off the rigours of heavy Dark Hour combat. It was even machine washable.

 

Forged by the residents of the Velvet room for their current wild card, they had all insisted on making him a blue coat fit for a resident. It was inlaid with the best protective spells possible. It was very good armour. But Minato always pushed it beyond what it could take. In his latest escapade, he had managed to royally shred his faithful coat. He had had to send it to the Velvet Room to regenerate for a few days. Without it, he had been feeling twitchy and uncomfortable. He felt unspeakably relieved that it had fully reformed.  

 

Accompanying the protective coat was his best pair of fighting gloves. He had made them himself, fusing a tough chariot Persona into the weapon with assistance from Theo on one of his infrequent visits. They didn't look very impressive at all. Made of a dark leather with only slight metal studs on the knuckles, it just looked like an expensive glove. Minato liked them that way. They were very inconspicuous even if they weren't as strong as the other weapons he owned. Inconspicuous was better for outside the dark hour.

 

“What happened to my Armoury?”

 

            Igor grinned and waved his hand. With the simple motion, an enormous pile of objects materialized to the side. Minato stared.

            The pile covered nearly half of the room. It didn't mean any of it was valuable, considering the hundred or so Imitation Katanas he owned, but it was a lot. His encounters with Shadows over the years had given him _this_ much loot?!?

 

Usually, upon receiving useless loot, he wouldn’t bother storing it in the compendium. He would use the compendium as a gateway to throw items he didn’t want straight into the Velvet room. He hadn’t checked on it in years. Apparently, it had grown enormous in that time.

 

            He gleefully rubbed his hands together. He'd never be without cash again after he sold the more outdated stuff to a weapons dealer! A giggle from Elizabeth and a chuckle from Igor made him realize, with great embarrassment, that he was drooling over his own collection.

 

“Ah. Apologies. You know my fascination with sharp objects of mass destruction.” He leaned back, with a last wistful glance at the pile of weaponry.

 

Elizabeth went into another fit of giggles. Igor sighed and shook his head in exasperation.

 

“It appears that Thanatos's fondness for weaponry has passed on to you.” He commented.

 

“Thou art I and I art thou, and all that stuff.”

 

Igor cackled. “And all that stuff indeed!”

 

            Shifting into a more businesslike pose in his chair, Minato gave them a last fond smile before clapping his hands to draw their attention.

 

“Right, as fun as seeing you guys again was, what have I been called here for?”

 

The two sobered themselves into a more serious mindset quickly. With a sigh, Igor waved a hand. The contract Minato had signed appeared on the table.

 

_I Choose this fate of mine own free will_

_Minato Arisato_

Igor nodded. “You have signed the contract. I only ask the usual, for you accept full responsibilities for your actions. There is no need for another explanation after last time, I take it?”

The Fool shook his head. “No need. I did notice that I got a contract this time, what's that about?”

 

Both entities shifted uncomfortably. Igor shot his assistant several warning glances. Finally, Elizabeth decided to speak.

 

“This time is different. You will have to find out how on your own power. This isn't just about survival like last time.”

 

            He nodded and held out his book which miraculously traveled with him to this space between dream and reality. Instantly the mood lightened and the blond attendant snatched the book from his hands. Surprisingly, Minato made no move to protest.

“I see it's looking quite good.” Elizabeth praised, flipping through the pages. “But your social links need some work. You've had too many low powered ones which have faded.”

 

She fixed him in a stern glare. “This contract requires greater power than you have now to fulfill it. You NEED to work harder and form some more unbreakable bonds. The ones forged with us in the Velvet Room is not enough.”

 

Minato bowed his head against her harsh rebuke. Great, she just told the anti-social to make friends. Just great. This was not going to be a good year for him, was it?

 

“If you are in need of fusing Personas do not hesitate to ask.” Elizabeth continued.

She grinned. “There will be a 'fee' of course.”

He deadpanned. “You don't need to bribe me to get me to take you outside you know...”

A being that supposedly ruled over power jumped up and down in excitement like a little girl. “Yay!”

Minato just smiled softly at her glee. He was well accustomed to her childish habits. Even if he didn’t find it endearing, he would’ve put up with it. She had saved his mind and soul from insanity after all.

“I think that will be all for now.” Igor smiled in that partially grandfatherly and partially creepy way of his. “I will reinstall the key into your Compendium...”

            Curiously, he accepted the strange glowing key from the old man. He usually found his way into the room by random doorways that were never in the same place twice or rarely in dreams. Sometimes, the attendants would find _him_ outside the room. Gaining what was essentially a free pass was a relief after ten years of annoying hide and seek. Elizabeth handed back his tome with a friendly smile. With a bright flash, the key flew straight into the book. Minato grinned down at the now, slightly glowing book.

“'Til we meet again...”


	5. First Full Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanatos VS Magician  
> Minato gets outed to the dorm.

X

_The Velvet Room Pact-_ _The Velvet Room Pact was made to make the Summoner/Wild Card Partnership easier to accomplish without the Wild Cards having to search for a Summoner to help manage their Personas. A Wild Card without a Summoner either leads to a weak Wild Card (one that knows how to dismiss the Personas that show up) or one with severe psyche strain (One that doesn't know how to dismiss and eventually dies because they collect more Personas than their head limit allows). Without a Summoner, most Wild Cards cannot fuse and must rely on whatever Personas they find in combat. Personas found in combat are usually significantly weaker than fused ones. The Pact allows all Wild Cards access to the Velvet Room Which holds the only Summoners, Igor, Elizabeth, Theodore and Margret. Eg Elizabeth's Wild Card was Minato Arisato originally. (See Minato Arisato's circumstances)_

_X_

 

* * *

4/9/09

             Minato awoke to another boring day. Still half asleep, he stumbled around his room, performing his morning routine in a zombie-like manner. He barely remembered a thing that happened while he got dressed. As he picked up his Tome on the way to the door, the thing gave him a slight shock. Suddenly fully conscious, he startled and glanced around the room in confusion.

             Realizing he had done everything on auto pilot again, he stared down at the book. There was a thread of velvet room blue inlaid into the cover that hadn’t been there the night before. He stared at it almost giddy. Unrestricted access to the Velvet room! He wouldn’t have to make do with slipshod fusions and rationing of equipment and inventory space anymore! With that in mind, he set off to school with a bounce in his step.

             At the school gate, he met his new best friend who was energetically bouncing up and down. Minato frowned slightly, the magician’s scent had doubled in strength overnight. The spice was not yet at the point of burning his nose but it was well on its way. Thankfully the rusty steel tempered some of the fire of his scent to make it bearable. He shouldn’t have developed that quickly but Minato was certain that he had at least partially breached into the Dark Hour last night. Not quite fully there, but beginning to become aware of it, maybe crossing over for a handful of minutes. Thankfully, if it was partial, he wouldn’t be in danger of Shadows yet. It was unlikely he’d breach again for a few days, since his body would be rapidly trying to adapt to prepare for the Supernatural force it was going to channel. The next breach would be the one that brought the nausea and disorientation as the mind tried to adapt.

 “What's up!? Man, today is the perfect day! The sky is blue... We're young... What more could we ask for!?”

 “Some quiet?” Minato grinned back.

 “Psh, quiet is overrated! When you have hot-blooded awesomeness, you need nothing else!”

 Minato blinked and stopped. “That sounded straight out of a shounen anime. Next thing, you’d be going on about the power of friendship.”

 He looked a little embarrassed, “H-hey man! It’s cool!”

 Minato smiled faintly at him. “I didn’t say it wasn’t.”

 “Woah, is that a smile?”

 The faint smile vanished behind his blank mask. “Nope.”

 “It totally was.”

 “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 Though his face was impassive, the magician could make out a twinkle of mischief in the fool’s eyes.

 “Whatever you say…”

 Junpei leaned closer in a conspiring manner. “Dude, listen to this...” His face screwed up in guilty realization, “Oh, wait! I'm not supposed to say anything! Whoops! Sorry, man.”

 “Eh.” Minato waved his hand flippantly. “I won’t pry.”

 Chatting and teasing each other, the two teenagers entered the high school. To them, it was a normal day, full of annoying classes and homework. Both loners reveled in the new-found bond and enjoyed each other’s joking company.

 They were not aware of the looming danger that night would bring.

  

* * *

 

 Three people sat in the command room, staring at the wide screen before them. Mitsuru merely sighed and pressed a hand to her forehead.

 “I figured he'd do that...”

 They were all staring at the camera feed to Minato's room. Or lack thereof. The entire screen was engulfed in static.

 “Interesting...” Ikutsuki muttered.

 Yukari stared at the screen in disbelief. “But how? How'd he even find it?”

 Disturbingly enough, Mitsuru was smiling in appreciation. “He's sharp. We might as well bring him up now and talk to him. From his attitude so far, he probably knows someone was watching him.”

 “We don't have enough data...” Ikutsuki whined.

 “And we're not going to be getting more.” Mitsuru gestured with much amusement. “So why not?”

 Abruptly, a sharp beeping cut off their argument. Dismissing the matter for now, Mitsuru swept down to answer the call from their only free ranging agent.

 “Command Room...Is that you Akihiko?”

  

* * *

 

            Minato woke with a start to the yellow and creeping green of the Dark Hour. As the only night he was certain Junpei wouldn’t be awakening on, he had planned to sleep straight through the night to make up for the midnight monitoring he’d have to do for the next week. It seemed that he wouldn’t be getting that luxury.

 Sparks of magic crackled along his veins, his body reacting to imminent danger before his brain could register it. An ever so faint scent of ash drifted in from the window. The air was thick and heavy with malice, warm and muggy against the skin like the humid of a tropical night before a storm. Something powerful was abroad in the night, its aura burning through the night smoky and indistinct.

             Deep in his soul, past the surface where his other Personas resided, nestled closed to his core of self, his oldest Persona rattled to life. Chains rattled and screeched as the god of death got riled up in preparation for a good fight.

             Under Thanatos’s urging, Minato began to equip himself with whatever equipment he had on hand. His pajamas were quickly exchanged for the uniform he had planned to wear tomorrow to act as under armour. He had stored most of his equipment for the move, not wanting to cause suspicions. He slapped his Compendium in a rush. Sensing this, the book slammed open and expelled what he needed in a rush of blue energy. He had no time to fully kit out, so he settled for snatching up his second-best body armour, a flexible Kevlar vest, and a standard pair of gloves. Most of his main equipment was still in the Velvet Room after all, he’d take what he could get.  

Slipping a handful of knives in a pocket of the vest, he raised his head to sniff again. The ash was growing stronger, a sharp-as-knives metallic smell joining it. He wouldn’t bother with any other weapon for the moment.

Rumbling up from the back of his mind, Thanatos growled out.

**_A big one approaches, it's stronger than anything we've ever fought before_ **

             The ultimate Persona of the Death Arcana was practically giddy with excitement. Thanatos was a simple Persona, with simple tastes. Weaponry, explosions, destruction, sarcasm… things that had bled across to his container. It lent a certain perspective to life when you had a death god riding around in your head for your formative years. As Igor rightly said, having Thanatos so deeply rooted in his soul had not done good things to his sanity.

             Minato glanced out the window, smelling the frantic rush of ozone-steel-sweat that was his missing dormmate approaching at a clip. The rage-ash-knives was following on his heels, powerful enough to be drawn to the power keg of the Dorm. Weaker shadows would’ve been terrified and would’ve fled from such a power nexus. It was strong and he was under equipped, the only piece of steel he had on him was a mere handful of daggers. It was a crippling disadvantage.

 Thankfully his true weapon would _always_ answer his call.

             A ruckus was beginning downstairs, ozone-sweat-blood had arrived injured. Lesser shadows were beginning to flock, hoping to pick off an easy kill from a bigger shadow’s mayhem. Making a quick decision, he snatched up the compendium and slunk out of his room. He locked it behind him, to give him a few more minutes if anyone came looking for him, and raced for the stairs. He sniffed a little at the connection between all the floors. Rot-liar, Ice-mint and herb-weak-wind were downstairs with ozone-sweat, he didn’t smell enough blood for the injury to be serious, so he wasn’t worried. Confirming the presence of all the dorm residents downstairs, Minato began to run up the stairs. Height would allow him to get a good look at the shadow without it being able to attack him.

  _Orpheus, how much energy do I have?_

Nestled next to his core self, right next to Thanatos, where a regular Persona-User’s Persona would rest, the master of strings stirred. The calm to Thanatos’s glee, his second persona pulsed a chord of magic, checking on the state of his body and reserves.

 The ever-taciturn Persona quickly gave him a report. **_You have been sleeping well for the past few days so we are in good shape, body functioning at 95% and reserves at full. You’ll be able to use low tier spells without much consequence. Factoring other usage, don’t use more than ten Second tier spells or area of effect spells. If you use enhancement spells for longer than eleven minutes we will run into problems. Don’t even think about summoning anything. If regular methods are not enough, you have sufficient energy to manifest Thanatos for a total of twelve seconds before you reach critical levels._**

 Twelve seconds when he was at full capacity sounded small, but Thanatos was very stressful for his body to manifest. As he used his magic reserves in battle, the amount of time he could summon him for rapidly decreased. But that wasn’t much of an issue, he rarely needed that much time to ruin someone’s day. The strain of summoning him physically, even for a little bit, would doubtlessly send him into respiratory arrest so it was an extreme last resort.

  _Thanatos?_

A deep rattling sigh.

**_Despite my eagerness to do battle with this opponent, It will do no good to entice your illness by burning you out. Even if it is the Dark Hour. Save me as a trump card. Use Hades instead._ **

            Minato closed the door to the roof and walked to the edge. His harsh breathing quickly evened out. He was fit from nightly combat, but those stairs were _evil_. Leaning over the edge, he looked down to the front door. An eyeless blue mask stared back at him and froze.

            Dozens of haphazard arms sprouted everywhere on the thing, all an inky black colour. Even as he watched, smaller shadows were gathering. Several slipped around to the back door and a few remained to squeeze through the front door.

“I see.” He mused. “The presence of the stronger shadow makes the weaker ones brave enough to try their luck. The weaker shadows are drawn to the stronger shadows.”

He frowned grimly. “Following that theory, that makes me a greater shadow.  But the shadows I normally attract always try to kill me. Back to drawing board for that one.” ****

            The large Magician class leapt, latching onto the side of the building with it many arms. Using anything it could find it began to haul itself up the building side with remarkable speed.

“Pity.” Minato sighed. “I didn’t get to observe more.”

            He jumped fearlessly onto the railing of the roof, impeccable balance and a lack of wind preventing an embarrassing fall. It was a long drop. He flexed his hand. After years of use, the magic crackled down his arm with barely a thought to direct it. He stared down at creature coming vertically at him. Raising up a hand as if to grasp something, he smiled pleasantly down at the shadow. Framed in the Dark Hour's unholy full moon, he looked like a forbidding specter of death to the approaching monster below. 

There was only one thing he had ever been able to summon besides a Persona.

“Thanatos, lend me your sword.” ****

The god roared in assent, sending his own crackle of energy up the arm to give the final push that brought the blade from the realm of the mind into the realm of matter.

            He pulled _Hades_ straight from nothingness. A relatively simple construct, the bone white katana never less gave off a forbidding aura of death. As soon as he felt the hilt in his palm, his arm snapped downward.

            Death's blade screamed towards the shadow's mask. Noticing it a bit too late, it still managed to tilt its mask to avoid being pierced. This did not stop the sword burying to its hilt in the thing's main body however. With an unearthly screech, it lost grip and toppled from the side of the building with a splatter of ichor, taking the sword with it.

            Standing on the ledge of the roof with nothing to support himself, he let himself lean forward, intent on free falling to the ground. A scream behind him caused him to turn slightly as he was about to kick off. Standing by the roof door was Yukari, looking utterly horrified.

            With nothing left to hide, Minato let a slightly deranged grin spread across his face. Then he kicked off from the roof. Turning back to the ground, the pissed off Magician pulled out a set of wickedly sharp knives. He had to visibly force back the squealing weapons collector side of him, namely Thanatos. Holding out a palm before himself, Minato quietly switched Persona and summoned forth the magic it held. 

Strong green winds, razor fingers blunted by his will, cushioned his fall. Descent safely slowed by the second-tier wind spell, there no longer was a danger of going splat against the sidewalk. First tier was useful for a lot of functions, but it didn’t have the strength to support a human body for more than a second. Even Garula couldn’t support human weight, it was made to slice with speed and air pressure, it just didn’t have enough push power when it was blunted. He made a sharp gesture with his hand. The wind obeyed, lashing out to catapult the summoner away from the building and therefore away from the shadow waiting at its foot. Still slightly cushioned by the wind, he neatly landed upright on top an unsuspecting car.

            As soon as he landed, the monster rushed. With barely a thought, the hilt of _Hades_ smacked into his palm, vanishing from where the shadow had flung it in its rage.  As a second thought, Minato flung away his Compendium, the book shattering into blue shards the moment it hit the ground. It would only get in the way in such close combat ** _._**

            With a raucous battle cry drawn from Thanatos, Minato sprang off his perch, swinging the katana down with both hands on the shadow. A pair of gleaming knives crossed to block the blow. For a fraction of second, they stared at each other across crossed steel. The summoner’s face wild and savage and the blue mask with empty sockets filled with eldritch rage.

Quick as a flash, the other arms shot forward to decapitate him while his sword was occupied.  Planting a foot on the shadow's mask he kicked off the impromptu foothold, catapulting himself back into the air in a summersault to dodge the flashing steel. 

            Wild laughter ripped from his throat as he felt the breeze of guillotine blades snapping down on his previous position. Calling for another Persona, he raised his hand up to cast another set of spells midair. Persona magic was surging in his veins with intoxicating power. He supposed it must be what drug addicts feel like, high on their poison of choice. All the possibilities lay before his sight, the magic of the Wild Card that was empty and yet limitless.

 

The power to become _anything_.

 

To become an angel or devil,

 

a god or a spirit,

 

a hero or a monster

 

The neutral point between all supernatural factions that could channel them all, yet belonged to none. He possessed all their strengths and all their weaknesses. His power was still growing, but at the heights of it, he shuddered to think what kinds of things he’d be capable of channeling.

 

He flung out a crackled of energy sparked into an offensive spell. “Zio!” 

Lightning crackled around the shadow, causing it to spasm slightly, but otherwise not affecting it too much. It was enough to delay it from following his retreat and let him land safely. Thudding onto the cracked pavement, he felt the impact rattle up his bones. Reaching for electricity had prevented him calling a physically resistant persona in time. He mental grasped again, a fused Persona rising to the call. Fused specifically to be able to use multiple low level spells without him having to switch. He grasped the offered power and flung it outward, hoping one of them would reveal a weakness.

 “Bufu!”

 Chill surged through his veins and ice crashed down, freezing several limbs in place.

 “Garu!”

 Power rushed out, wind blades no longer blunted, to severe arms.

 The last one, he had a sinking feeling, wasn’t going to work but it was at least worth a try, since the others didn’t make a dent.

  _Ash scent…_

 “Agi!”

 The magic exploded underneath the shadow’s feet in a scarlet conflagration.

 To his annoyance, just as he thought, the flames were absorbed by the shadow, allowing it to regenerate some of its limbs. He was hoping that the shadow didn’t have an elemental nature, but with his luck it wasn’t just fire resistant. It was fire absorbent, which meant trouble since he had essentially healed it.

 Finally, free of the ice, the Shadow surged forward with a screech, knives waving dangerously.

             With a swear, Minato backpedaled, swinging his sword in carefully controlled strikes to block the swift strikes raining down on him. Clangs of steel rang through the green night. Miraculously, he had managed to avoid being injured for the whole exchange. Though that was more due to his slash resistant Persona then his actual skill. This shadow was unbelievably strong, like nothing he'd ever faced before. It shrugged off the gaping wound caused by Hades and the lost arms barely phased it.

 Hopping onto a car as a springboard, Minato launched himself back up in the air. He threw out a hand in a desperate slashing movement to shatter a blue card. It wasn’t a Persona card, but it was a hand of skill cards. The valuable items were ruthlessly smashed to pieces to provide a one-time only spell.

 “Physical enhancement!”

 A package of stacked enhancement spells slammed into him full force as he fell towards his foe. Strength and speed doubled as the blue fire raced through his veins. He roared as he brought the blade down.

            Accidentally missing the Magician's mask yet again, he cleaved the entire being in two. The two piles of limbs dropped on either side of him as he landed. He grinned madly as he surveyed his handiwork, pleased. ****

            Without warning, one of the hands lashed out with a knife, digging deeply into his arm, nearly hackling the limb off. With a roar of pain, Minato brought his sword crashing down on the shadow's newly forming mask. Seeing a glow from the corner of his eye, he turned. Swirling to life inches from his face was a blue fireball held in the hands of the original half.

“ _Shi-_ ”

            He brought his left arm to shield his face just in time. The Agilao imploded with an impressive explosion of flames which he collected at point blank range. Sent flying, he smashed into the car behind him, utterly totaling it. The flames ignited several trees along the sidewalk, adding to the plumes of smoke rising off the trashed car.

            Standing on the top of the stairs, Mitsuru jerked into action. The smaller shadows had been easily dispatched before Yukari's panicked transmission reached her. Following the sounds of battle to outside she opened the door to meet the sight of the suspected Persona User cleaving the huge armed shadow in two with a sword she _knew_ he hadn’t brought in his luggage.

            Questions could wait, right now, her kohai was grievously hurt and possibly dead if his innate persona was weak to fire. Either way, she wasn't going to let another death happen on _her_ watch. His form was hidden from her field of vision by smoke and flame of the car but he obviously wasn't going to be in good shape, even if he had resistance to fire.

            Recalling his lack of Evoker, she cursed. He wouldn't be able to summon, even if he was capable. As she charged, one of Akihiko's Zio spells lanced past her to electrocute the shadow. To her worry, it only jerked slightly under the shock before whirling...

...To meet the end of her rapier.

            The hands were annoyingly quick but could not stop the quick pierce. She yanked the blade out quickly and skipped backwards, dodging the retaliating snap of knives. Her evoker was fired towards her head with battlefield efficiency. Staring at death, her mind reached enlightenment of self. The barrier of her consciousness shattered like glass and her mask against the world materialized. Ice imploded around the monster, lacerating its form and scratching its mask.

            Groaning, Minato picked his carcass up and stumbled away from the flaming wreck of car. Looking down at his battered body, he sighed. He had been going fine right up until that moment and he wasn't too pleased about his new battle injuries.

            His right arm sported a deep slash courtesy the first attack, from the glimpses of bone he was getting, it was probably a miracle he hadn’t lost the arm. His left no longer had a sleeve and was burnt painfully all the way up to his shoulder. Not that he could tell. Raising his blackened left arm up to his face, he noted with detached amusement that _this is supposed to hurt._

He was capable of regeneration and casting healing spells, though he was very lousy at the latter, preferring instead to shove energy directly at an injury until it healed, but third degree burns would require far more concentration than a battlefield could provide. And the stab wound had undoubtedly severed important nerves, since his arm didn’t seem to want to respond. The lacerated muscle was no problem but nerves were always funny business. It was bleeding a lot but it seemed to have missed a major vein. He had neither the time or energy reserves available to repair the damage.

 

So, to his incredible annoyance, he was going to have to wrap up the fight quickly.

 

Wreathed in smoke, he walked forward towards his prey's roars. The sight of Mitsuru dueling the thing with back up from a silver haired boy was a bit of a surprise. The boy slumped against the front steps, but still doggedly casting zio spells, looked vaguely familiar. As he breathed in, nearly overshadowed by ash-sharp-steel was the last unknown scent, ozone-blood. What a way to finally meet the fourth Persona-user. Minato closed his eyes and sighed to himself, this was going to be a hell of a first impression.

**_Three Persona users are watching..._** Orpheus informed him. **_Are you sure?_ **

            He lazily cracked an eyelid. The battle had ground to a halt. Mitsuru was staring at Minato with something close to shock from where she had retreated out of range. The silver haired man was nursing his ribs in the lull, warily shifting gaze from the Shadow to Minato. Yukari's faint scent remained on the rooftop. Despite the seniors' closer proximity to the shadow, it now ignored them completely to focus on the person it had failed to kill.

Closing his eyes again, he focused on that bright blue spark in his mind and murmured. “Come Compendium.”

**_Seven seconds._** Orpheus told them sternly, fingers deep in the strings of his reserves, monitoring its ebb and flow.

**_Five seconds._** Thanatos agreed, shouldering forward to the front of the consciousness.

Blue shards gathered to form a thick brown tome which hovered in the air before him.

Mitsuru stared. “But that's-”

            Minato could do it without the Compendium, of course, but with it the summoning would be less damaging to his body if he used the book to channel the summon instead. It also paid to let everyone think that he needed it to summon Thanatos. It would make them sleep easier at night knowing that there was some way to leash his power. Under ordinary circumstances, summoning the god of death would be easy, Minato wouldn’t have to expend an ounce of energy.

However, from that night ten years ago, when he ceased to be Minato and became Minato-and-Thanatos and barely seconds after that Thanatos-and-Orpheus-who-is-also-Minato, Thanatos had lost his autonomy and become leashed tightly to Minato’s core of being. And those chains were not easily slackened to allow him loose.  

Sensing the building danger, the Magician charged forward on swift hands, dismissing the others entirely. To its mistake. Mitsuru swiftly drew her evoker, pressing it to her head. Without any hesitation, she pulled the trigger again.

“Penthesilea, Bufu!”

            Ice sprang around the shadow's limbs, buying Minato more time as it turned to free itself. Eyes still closed he nodded his thanks. He took another deep breath, storing up on oxygen in his bloodstream, the book flipping open to a certain page on its own. Charred left arm rose stiffly until it was on the level of the book. His eyes snapped open, fixing the trapped Magician with an unforgiving mercury glare.

****

**_“ THANATOS.”_** He intoned, his voice echoing and deep.

****

            Blue energy gathered around him, greater than anything he had used previously. A matrix of swirling blue power and broken shards. He could feel his strength rapidly draining. A slow constriction of his chest was the only thing informing him he was reaching his limit.

 

The world shattered.

 

            A monstrous being rose from his summoner's shadow. A long coat flapped in the summoning vortex. A chain necklace of ornate coffins clattered in the air behind him almost like wings. A bony white, almost birdlike, helmet sat on his head with two empty eye sockets.

 

            To everyone it was a monstrosity, something that should never have achieved corporal shape. but to Minato it was his soul.

****

            Painfully aware of the time limit, Thanatos lunged forward even as Minato doubled over coughing. The shadow never had a chance. Thanatos was almost frantic. His regular rage went out the window and he shot forward with surgical precision. _Hades_ appeared in its true owner's hand to easily lope off a few of the shadow's grasping limbs. Its knives clattered to group with its arms, effectively disarming the creature. The thing screeched, trying to run away with its remaining hands.

            The embodiment of death held onto the sludge like mass of the shadow and cleaved the being in two with a final swipe. The blue mask was neatly bisected.

“Shatter!” Minato gasped, breathless and choking.

            Eyeless sockets snapped around to meet pained silver. To his horror, his Summoner was hunched over clutching his chest as his lung rebelled. Every single Persona Minato possessed knew the signs, Thanatos better than most since his summoning provoked them far worse than others did. With a nod, the huge Persona began to dismiss, satisfied the enemy was disposed of.

            Edges starting to fade, he suddenly jerked with a howl. Minato could feel it too. A surge of foreign yet familiar energy was pulsing from the carcass. Blue-black energy swarmed from the shadow's body. Without warning the energy suddenly shot forward like an arrow.

            Thanatos bodily threw itself in between the bullet but he had faded too far. The energy punched a hole through his body causing him to fully shatter out of the material plane. With a muffled swear, Minato tried to resummon any Persona to protect himself.

“Orph-Gugh!”

            The blue bullet collided with the center of his chest. More pain flared through his chest. He staggered, an expression of pure shock on his face. Dropping to his knees he clutched his chest, searching to put pressure on the injury. Bringing a hand up, he was surprised to find no blood.

_Wha-? What did it-GAH!!!!!!!!!_

            Abandoning his chest, he clutched his head and howled in pain. His Personas raged in his head as his entire selection shuffled and expanded and morphed painfully. The constriction on his chest squeezed uncomfortably. Before he knew what was happening, rough coughs were forcing their way out of his mouth. Blood trickled down his lips as he braced himself against the spasms.

            Vaguely, he heard someone frantically trying to heal him. He cracked open an eye, staring unsteadily at the sidewalk before him. It was an unpleasant flashback to the early days when his mind had been roiling and bulging at the seams. He had been in this position often in those days, dully staring at blood spattered pavement inches from his face with a heavy copper taste on his tongue.

“Enough of this!” He growled, using up the rest of his air in a defiant shout. “NOT AGAIN!”

            He dizzily slammed his burnt hand palm first into what appeared to be air. Another shattering of shards later, his Compendium rested against his palm. As soon as he touched the book, it began to glow. Visible blue energy raced down his limbs, cracking like electricity to loosen the band around his chest. He took several deep gulps of air to stop the world from spinning. After a few seconds, he let out a relieved sigh.

            The mental pain gradually faded as the book systematically compartmentalized each Persona to stop their essences from mixing. The glow died down, returning the book to its brown colour. 

**_Let's never do that again._** Orpheus deadpanned.

**_Agreed, as much as I like fighting, I can't do it if you're dead. You alright?_ **

_Dunno. How bad's the internal damage?_

There was a moment of silence as Orpheus, the Persona in charge of organizing and analysis, did his job. A brief hum ran in his veins, categorizing its state after prolonged abuse.

**_Thanatos._** Orpheus said, utterly emotionless like Minato himself was like on default.

**_What?_**

**_Please knock him out._ **

Minato stared blankly at the book for a few seconds. Orpheus rarely resorted to such measures. The last time he did it, it was when they had to deal with trying to figure out how to reattach his spine. He preferred for his summoner to not be conscious while he had to concentrate on healing nerve and organ damage.

Minato could already feel the death god gently tightening the bonds between their consciousness. As Thanatos sunk back to the core of his soul, the soft chains tugged his consciousness down with him. Leaving the repair work to the Persona that was best at it, he let his exhausted mind slip into the warm and comforting embrace of Death.

            Wordlessly, his physical body crumpled to the ground. His prized grimoire followed him seconds later, the book clattering harmlessly to the ground inches from his charred fingertips before it shattered into blue shards again.

Mitsuru startled and worried and the sudden collapse, knelt by his body, quickly checking his pulse. With her other hand, she fired her Evoker twice. As healing light began to envelop his body, she turned to call her other injured companion slumped against the steps.

“Akihiko get over here!”


	6. Time Spent Unconscious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> an unexpected person shows up to visit Minato while he's unconscious. SEES gets to hear Minato's glowing Medical File

_Minato's Circumstances- Minato started out just like any other Wild Card. However, his power was forcibly kickstarted years before it was supposed to. Because of the early awakening, he had none of the support structures needed, no Velvet room, no partnered Attendant/Summoner, and worst of all, he did not know how to dismiss. So three years after his power awoke, he overloaded. The pressure got too much and he turned to the only thing that could keep it down. Suppressant Pills, obtained from a back-alley dealer who charged cheaply. He took the poison to stave off his mental breakdown, preferring for his body to break down before his mind.  
_

_Several months passed, nearly a year, before Elizabeth found out what was happening. To save his life, she handed over custodianship of his Compendium. The Compendium naturally siphons off Personas that were not in use and neatly organizes them to be easier to handle. It is a powerful summoning and storing device._

_Minato is still technically a Wild Card AND a Summoner, two sides of a partnership fused into one person. Even as a psudo-summoner, he should not be able to attempt any of their magiks, since he is not a Blank Card or inhuman. However, with DEATH itself sealed inside his soul, he has a warped enough mind to be able to understand and perform a small fraction of the inhuman magiks the Velvet Room Residents are capable of. (See Velvet Room Magiks)_

 

* * *

****

            Minato's eyes fluttered open weakly to be met with comforting, familiar blue lit by the flickering of a rising elevator. Even the clattering was a welcome noise, as it proved that he wasn’t dead yet. He sighed to himself and clumsily tried to lever himself up from his sinfully comfortable resting place. Before he could get very far, a delicate hand pressed down lightly on his chest. It only exerted a small amount of pressure but in his weakened state it felt like a brick. Too weak to resist, he complied with the force and settled back into the cushions. 

The couch, generally reserved for him during his visits that he slept through, was far too comfortable for him to attempt to rise a second time. Among familiar surroundings, he saw no need to be upright and alert. He’d rather just drop back off to sleep and continue absorbing the ambient magic of the Room to recover his thoroughly tanked reserves. He bit back a grimace as he distantly felt Orpheus pull a little more from what he had left.

His eyes flicked towards the sisters hovering over his couch.

“Minato-sama, you've gone and hurt yourself again.” Margret chided, standing behind Elizabeth.

He blinked woozily again, everything seemed out of focus, even for the Velvet Room.

“Stay still Mina-chan,” Elizabeth softly smiled at him.

She rested a hand on his forehead and warm energy rushed through his body. His sight abruptly sharpened. He closed his eyes in relief as the pain began to fade. When she removed her hand, he felt her move away. A new weight settled on his couch.

_Wha-? Theo would never be so informal, who's this?_

“Nii-san you need to be more careful.”

His eyes flew open, startled. Heart in his throat, he stared in disbelief at the figure sitting on his couch.

             Auburn hair was pulled up in a ponytail, a pair of bangs covering an eye. A set of clips were lined up to form XXII, the number of Arcana. An identical MP3 rested comfortably around her neck. She wore exactly what she had been wearing the last time he saw her with a slight colour change.

            A pleated black skirt modestly covered her knees, about the length of Mitsuru's own. The long sleeve red blouse she had worn had been changed to a plain white button down. Instead, her favourite colour was paid tribute by a red bow tied neatly around her neck.

            Most surprisingly, a thin velvet-blue coat was draped over her shoulders. He had never seen that before and it wasn’t something she wore in life but he’d know that colour and unique smell anywhere. His sister was a Velvet Room attendant. He stared at her. She was all grown up now, no longer the child whose life had been tragically cut short.

 “Are you really here?” He croaked.

             She nodded brightly. She seemed to be as affected as him, tears were gathering in her eyes. Ignoring the lingering pains, Minato pulled himself up and wrapped his long dead sister in a fierce hug. She returned the hug with equal fervor, the two clinging fiercely to each other.

 “H-how?” He mumbled into her hair.

This was beyond his wildest dreams. She was alive. A living, breathing, solid weight in his arms. A familiar scent of burnished copper and spice tickling his nose. _She was alive._

She pulled back with a blinding smile. “That's something for another time. Please rest Minato-nii, you're exhausted.”

She gently wiped away the tears he didn't even know were falling from his eyes. He slumped against her side, his mind desperately trying to comprehend how his dead sister was holding him in warm and decidedly _not dead_ arms.

            The transition of Minato to Minato-and-Thanatos had effectively scrambled his mind and memories. He remembered little of personal memories before the moonlit bridge, the information destroyed as an immense god was shoved into his brain, but he remembered her. She was the strongest memory he had from when he was Minato because she had still been there when he became Minato-and-Thanatos. He held her, with Death raging in his head, until her life had finally slipped away. At that point, Minto-and-Thanatos became Thanatos-and-Orpheus-who-is-also-Minato, his natural Persona waking up from a sudden realization of self to buffer the primordial Death. And Death had quieted and become Thanatos.

The parts of him that had been irreparably scarred at her death were still there, but the pain was fading. It was nice to realize that some part of him was still human and not a vessel of Death.

“Heh.” He smiled quietly looking at his sister. “I didn't even know I could still cry.”

She eased his weak body back against the couch, even as his gaze remained fixed on her face. Gently brushing his bangs off his face, she started to hum an old lullaby. He didn’t know it but at the same time a faint part of him registered it as familiar. Another piece of his family that he had forgotten. Total contentment was clear on her face.

“Hamuko...”

“Shh...”

He reached up and grasped her fingers.

“Don't leave me again...”

Against his own will he felt his eyelids slipping closed, exhaustion and shock working against him. She hummed, stroking his hair.

“I won't Nii-san. I missed you too.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Kirijo-san?”

“Yes?”

The redhead turned to look at the doctor, with trepidation. Beside her, Yukari also looked up in worry. The two had been waiting there for nearly two hours after the Kirijo doctors got at Akihiko and Arisato.

            The doctor, a young man with wild brown hair, sighed. Though he was only in his early twenties, Taiki Shimizu was personally in charge of dealing with all Kirijo Group Persona-users. It was a taxing job despite their limited numbers but It granted him access to unlimited funds for his regular patients as well as the ENTIRE Kirijo databank. He was required to know everything about shadows and Personas as part of his job so he could treat injuries related to the phenomena and deal with any ill effects.

            Taiki couldn't deny that it gave him a thrill to know that supernatural stuff was real. He had been a real fantasy/magic nut when he was younger and was extremely grateful to the head of the Kirijo Group for giving him the job. More importantly to the elder Kirijo however, he treated the Persona-users like people and not test subjects. Considering his own daughter was one, such ideas were ruthlessly crushed by the organization.

“Sanada-san will be fine but Arisato-san...” Taiki hesitated.

“Will he be alright, Shimizu-san?” She barked, fingers tightening around the armrest of her chair.

“He is recovering, though not by our efforts.”

           He motioned for them to follow him. They had only taken a few steps when Akihiko appeared from around the corner. Mitsuru gave him a glare but he only raised his hands in a placating gesture, showing the bandages on his arm. The boxer's face was completely serious.

 “You need to see this.”

             The group of misfits followed Taiki into Arisato's room, with anxiety. The boy was bundled under a thick blanket, his arms left exposed for the doctors to monitor the injuries. He appeared to be hooked up to an IV line and a blood transfusion line. An oxygen mask blocked half his face from view, but from what little Mitsuru could see, Minato appeared to be peacefully sleeping. That notion was quickly thrown out the window as she stepped into the room. The very air seemed to crackle, static racing along her skin.

             According to what Yukari had seen, he had used all the elemental spells without summoning once. Mitsuru herself had felt his aura drastically change three times before he summoned the last one. The energy signature blazing through the room now was also different from the overwhelming presence of the obviously combat oriented Persona he materialized before. Benevolent power of a different kind saturated the air. It was nothing like the vicious magics and Persona he had used before.   

_Five Personas?_ Mitsuru speculated.

            Even Yukari, the weakest Persona user present could feel the energy being expended within the room. She gasped as the pressure hovered over her as well. Akihiko merely grimaced at the weight of the supercharged air. Taiki just sighed. He could feel the power but he could easily brush off such things. That was just how he was.

“They said he's been like this since they put him here.” Akihiko supplied. “No idea why he's using so much energy though.”

“What are his injuries like?” Mitsuru demanded.

             Taiki picked up a clipboard on the bedside table with a grimace and glanced at the boy on the bed. The blue hair reminded him painfully of a boy he met many years ago, in a filthy alley. With a deep breath, he started to read aloud.

 “He had third degree burns over his entire left arm which are regenerating quickly. His right has a deep laceration on his bicep that severed muscle and nerves and bruised the bone. It won’t be capable of motion for a while. With the nerve damage, his arm might never recover to its full range of motion.  Normally we'd use stitches to close the wound but with how fast and erratic his regeneration seems to be it would only injure him more. We’ve had to give him a transfusion for blood loss. He also had several cracked ribs but those healed within the first hour. Added to that, his blood oxygen was very low, we had to put him on oxygen.”

 “You can't do anything?” Yukari asked slightly desperately.

 The doctor shook his head. “There's something else...”

 "Go on.”

 “According to what we could discover from his body, when we examined him, he's no stranger to fighting.”

The man passed a thick wad of pages to Mitsuru. Taiki shifted uncomfortably. He wasn’t under oath to uphold patient confidentiality but it still seemed invasive to him.

“To begin with, he appears to have suffered from malnutrition in his youth. From what we’re seeing, he should have at least a few more inches of height. Other than his stunted height, he seems to have recovered from all the ill effects so we’ve estimated it occurred when he was about nine or ten. Now from what we can tell by the primary examination, he's broken each limb at least four times, cracked his ribs more than a dozen times, been run through twice and shows signs of a patchwork of scars from teeth, claws, wind and fire spells. Some of it is very faint, so he likely is capable of using healing spells. The telltale weakened areas of bone that signify prior breaks were very difficult to spot, they’ve almost perfectly healed. I was going to run another test to see how bad his scarring went but..."

The entire group stared. Mitsuru just looked at the boy lying comatose on the bed. Not even she had that much scars and she had been the longest active. His injury list was ridiculously long.

"What happened with the tests?" She mused absently, her mind still shocked.

Taiki grimaced. The motion did not go unnoticed by Mitsuru. She turned all her attention to the doctor and made a gesture to continue. He clasped his hands nervously over his dark purple buttoned up shirt and refused to meet any of their eyes.

"Kirijo-san, this boy is...he's been giving off the same type of energy as the Dark Hour. It’s been killing all our spiritual scanners- getting the MRI and Xray done was very difficult- but allowing us to hook him up to monitors. It’s as if he's subconsciously directing the energy to cancel specific electronics. Something in him, probably his Persona, doesn't want us to look any further. Whatever Persona it is, it is far stronger than you three combined."

"!"

"You think it was that big one?" Akihiko puzzled. "That thing was overflowing with power. Polyduces kept screaming to get away from it."

"Did you get a name?" Taiki asked quickly.

"Um...Thata...thachacros? Thana...." Yukari tapped the side of her jaw thoughtfully. "Don't think so. I was a bit distracted by that _thing._ "

_Oh gods, please don't say who I think you're trying to say..._ The doctor, who was also a mythology expert by virtue of his job, pleaded.

"Thanatos." Mitsuru enunciated clearly. "That was what he shouted when he summoned it."

"Oh dear. Thanatos,” He said, outwardly calm. “Is the Greek God of Death.”

“Isn’t that Hades?"

“Hades is the god of the Underworld, Thanatos is the God of Peaceful Death.”

The three teenagers exchanged uneasy glances.

“Nothing about that creature was peaceful.” Yukari denied. “It nearly ripped that shadow apart.”

The doctor just shrugged. “Well, that’s only what his legend says. However, I think it’s safe to say that Arisato-san's an Origin Witness."

"A wha-?" Yukari questioned.

Taiki unconsciously shifted positions until he was in his lecturing pose, waving his clipboard as a pointer.

"An Origin Witness is someone who was awake and witnessed the first Dark Hour when it happened. That's around ten years ago."

"He's been awake _ten years_?!?!" Akihiko exploded. "He would've only been seven!"

"The energy signature is unmistakable. There have only been three or four known ones that've been recorded. The other three confirmed ones have been very twisted from the experience, however because of them we know that there are five total Origin Witnesses. Their prime characteristic is that they wield strong Underworld-related Personas, that possess their own consciousness’s. They’re not like regular Personas, which are extensions of your own consciousness’s, they are actual Gods that were somehow sealed into people when the Dark Hour first manifested.”

“Actual gods?” Akihiko puzzled. “I don’t understand.”

“You know what a Persona is, right?”

“Of course,” Mitsuru frowned. “It’s a physical manifestation of the mask you use to face the world.”

The doctor nodded. “Yes, think of them as mirrors. They mirror legends from the human consciousness. However, some of those legends exist in truth.”

“Wait, gods are REAL?” Yukari yelped.

“Some of them are, yes.” Taiki chuckled. “But most of them were sealed away centuries ago. That’s why it’s even more amazing that five old time gods are present in the modern era, sealed into people. It’s a great mystery. What’s even more fascinating is this kid. All the Origin Witnesses have a slight scent-"

At this point, everyone watched him strangely, but he was too lost in his scientific mumblings to care.

"-of Dark Hour but I don't think any actually have _power_ over it."

He stopped and tapped his chin with his clipboard, still ignoring the people in the room. "Well maybe two of them but _not to this extent!_ "

"He is different, then." Mitsuru deduced. "Stronger?"

The doctor nodded firmly. "That 'Thanatos' seems to be very strong but it provided whiplash on his body. Which is why he's expending so much energy to fix whatever he's strained. From what Akihiko told me, he can use multiple Personas. The limit to them might be endless. He's been in combat for ten years. To your point of view, he'd be the perfect recruit."

"But...?"

"He's not strongly built like Akihiko or...you know(Shinji)...From what I can observe, his breathing tends to seize up when he over strains himself. And summoning Thanatos in any way seems to count. I could pass it off as an extreme asthmatic reaction, but he was coughing blood. There is something seriously wrong with his lungs and his damn overprotective Persona won’t f**king let us scan."

Most people would be horrified to speak so loosely to a member of the Kirijo family who owned the entire island. Taiki Shimizu had long past that state of formality. He had been working as the SEES doctor for a very long time, despite his young age. Though she would never admit it, Mitsuru tended to see him as an older brother. He didn't get cowed, like other people, by the Kirijo name. He simply didn't care who her father was.

"Hmm...He could still be helpful. It would be better than letting another Origin Witness vanish." She shot back.

Taiki chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head. “Hey, I had nothing to do with letting those three go wandering off.”

The glare she shot him was artic. “I was talking about the unconfirmed _fourth_ one where you managed to cause a power surge testing whatever mad equipment you cobbled together and lost all the data we had of the sighting!”

“Hey, it was an accident!”

 “Yes,” She hissed. “But we never saw the fourth again! For all we know, they fled to the other side of the world!”

 “That’s unlikely, Mitsuru-chan.”

 “What makes you say that?”

 “Well, the core of their power is tied to the Dark Hour. It’d be super uncomfortable for them to move out of the Dark Hour’s range. Actually, since here’s the core of the Dark Hour, its likely they were drawn to this city, just like Arisato-san.”

 The heiress’s look was dry enough to cause a man to die of dehydration. “And you didn’t say this before, _why_?”

 “You didn’t ask?”

 

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Introducing OC #1! He's a nice guy who seem pretty normal if a bit weird. He'll be coming in from time to time to fill in a vital role as SEES gets sent to the Hospital. I always wondered why there wasn't any Kirijo Group doctor for SEES considering the amount of fighting they do. Shouldn't somebody who's actually qualified be in charge?
> 
> (Taiki Shimizu is actually the name I got when I put my brother's name in a Japanese name translator.)


	7. I break out of hospitals for fun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanatos breaks out of a hospital. Hamuko and Minato get lost. Shinjiro is confused at these overly friendly short people.

_Velvet Room Magiks_ _\- The Residents are all inhuman and capable of reality twisting magiks that humans can barely comprehend. The Velvet Room itself is an example of such. Only a Wild Card can achieve the mindset required to see the door. Regular people, even fellow Persona-Users cannot do so and thus cannot see it._

_These impossible magiks involve the Velvet Room itself, the fusion of Personas (fusing two aspects of a soul is rather impossible), entering dreamscapes, crossing dimension barriers, spacial manipulation, insane amounts of spiritual power, summoning bits of someone ELSE's soul, Knowing the future and using Social Links to create power (Which is a very strange power source)._

_Minato only knows how fuse on a very minor scale, enough knowledge of Spatial Magiks to store his inventory in cards that he keeps in his Compendium and a slight, unwanted talent at divination at the moment._

* * *

_X_

4/17/09

            Even as he returned to consciousness, the memory of his sister's face remained with him. He could smell the faint traces of the other Persona users lingering in the room, along with an unfamiliar scent he couldn’t place that reminded him a little of the smell of a clear dark night after rain. It was too difficult to place.

The unknown was the strongest scent in the room, followed by the two senpai. He noted that the silver haired senpai had was no longer smelling of blood but his smell was fading, he had probably left an hour ago. Mitsuru’s sharp mint however, was strongly wafting off from where she sat by his bedside.

He just...couldn't bring himself to care about them right now.

            Unbidden, his mind drifted back to the last time he had seen Hamuko's face. Childish face stained with blood as they lay together on a moonlit bridge, red eyes dulled and glassy with death. Bodies and growing stains of copper blood. Fire. Destruction.

Death.

            His hands clenched around the sheets briefly before he forcibly relaxed himself. She was alright. Stuck in the Velvet Room for now, but alive. The other attendants could leave so he was sure he could get her out. Even if it was only for a few hours walk around town, he couldn't care less.

She was alive.

            Feeling like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, he opened his eyes. A white hospital roof greeted him. A quick flick of his eyes to the left revealed Mitsuru sitting there engrossed in a book. Shifting back the covers a little, he proceeded to sit up. To his great annoyance, he was wearing a generic drafty hospital gown.

            That was not his concern though. Used to battle and the injuries that came with it, he began to analyze the damage. His left arm was entirely encased in bandages which made it itchy and uncomfortable to move. His right got off light, with only a small amount of bandages wrapped around the knife wound. It stung a little but it was nothing he couldn't handle. He flexed his fingers and was pleased to see the arm follow the motion.

**_The nerves should be fine._ **

_How's the internal?_

**_Well and truly f-_ **

**_Thanatos, shut up._** Orpheus really was at the end of his tether. A tinge of annoyance was seeping through his tone.

Minato sighed.

_Could one of you tell me how bad it is?_

**_We've repaired 90% of the damage to your lungs. These humans were helpful enough to put you on oxygen, so the healing went smoothly. The Jack Brothers repaired the burn._ **

Minato could hear the strain on his saner Persona and winced. Stuck supervising Thanatos and the two Jack Brothers for several days was probably very unpleasant for him.

_Thank you, Orpheus. Please take a break._

**_I will._ **

He heard the fierce _whack_ of something metallic echoing in his head followed by a flare of heat and a yelp from Thanatos.

_Do I want to know?_ He asked hesitantly.

**_I've wanted to do that for the past week._** Orpheus stated as blankly as ever. **_Serves him right for being an annoyance during surgery._**

**_OWWWW! Dammit you-!_ **

_Thanatos._ Minato sighed.

**_He blew up my face!_ **

_You probably deserved it. Now could you be quiet? I’m going to check on the Compendium._

Ignoring Thanatos's complaints, he looked around the sanitized ward for his brown book. His Compendium wasn't in sight. He assumed Elizabeth wouldn't have let it lie around. The key was still his though. Holding out his hand, he was rewarded when his Summoning Tome dropped into his palm. Mitsuru looked up, startled at his casual summoning.

He couldn't feel anything from his charred arm, thankfully. The Velvet room attendants had helpfully numbed all the pain. Re-growing skin and nerves after a fire spell was always painful and annoying. It had also helped that they had let him sleep for four days straight in the room where time flowed differently. He was well rested and had replenished his magic reserves to almost full. The book was instantly hugged to his chest. With his teeth, he started tugging on the bandages. Mitsuru finally moved, trying to stop him.

“You'll aggravate your injuries!”

            Minato stared at her blankly. Ignoring her he went back to tugging on the strips of cloth. Getting annoyed with his behaviour, she forcibly pulled his arm away. Unfortunately, the bandage was already loose. As the cloth fell, Mitsuru gasped.

            His arm was no longer charred, it had been perfectly restored to its previous state. The Jack Brothers had done a good job, there was no sign of scarring or pink new flesh. It looked just as it had been before, except with a lack of arm hair. Even his thin line scars from nearly losing the limb to bladed weapons and garu wind spells remained. His healing was good enough by this point that anything less than nearly or outright losing a limb didn’t leave a scar. Finally, free of the constricting bandage, he flexed it and tested the range of motion of his fingers. 

            Now that he had finished assessing the healed arm, he turned to the other. A quick poke informed him that the damage wrought by the slash had been fully healed. The Kirijo heiress didn’t try and stop him again when he unwound that bandage to reveal a new razor thin scar to add to his collection.

Shifting his gaze to the red head at his bedside, he finally acknowledged her presence.

“Kirijo-senpai. How long have I been out?”

“It’s been two days, you nearly slipped into a coma. I take it from your behaviour you are aware of your actions?”

He simply looked at her. “And what about them?”

She looked like she was considering something but shook off the idea. “We will discuss it at the dorm. I expect you to come back to the dorm tomorrow after the doctor releases you from hospital.”

He gave her a weird look. “I'm fine. It would be nice if you brought clothes though.”

            Thankfully, she _had_ brought a bag of clothes. After a quick dig through he was annoyed and slightly amused to discover that his suspicions had been correct. The one who had packed it had put in a short-sleeved T-shirt, one of the few he owned in fact. It would leave his razor thin scarring on full display, he wasn’t self-conscious about it but it made him feel bare and vulnerable. Out of the Dark Hour, that kind of scarring was easily mistaken for the marks made from cutting. It made him memorable, and that was never a good thing to be.

During dark Hour, that kind of pale exposed skin was just asking to get a vein cut. He'd just have to suck it up and deal with the pitying gazes until he reached back to the dorm. On the bright side, they were faint enough that they wouldn’t be immediately obvious. As he looked at Mitsuru and raised an eyebrow, she remained poised and answered his unspoken question.

“Akihiko Sanada, the other senior, packed it.”

“Ah. Silver hair, guy who gets mugged by fangirls.”

She seemed highly amused by that.

“...Was there any collateral damage?” Minato asked hesitantly.

Mitsru's face twisted in bemusement. “Surprisingly enough, the only irreparable damage was to Ikutsuki's car. You completely totaled it.”

The Wild Card stared at her in complete disbelief. “Really?”

She nodded and Thanatos let out a raucous cheer. Minato mentally gave the very destructive Persona a high five.

**_Take THAT you stink bastard!_** Thanatos crowed.

**_It may only be a car..._** Orpheus smugly said. **_But payback is refreshing in any form. Ah...Schadenfreude._**

“That is...unfortunate...” He said with the straightest face he could manage.

It did nothing to disguise the malicious gleam in his eyes though. It left Mitsuru wondering why he was so pleased. She shrugged and simply decided to dismiss it.

“If that is all, I will be taking my leave then.”

She stood up to leave but he stopped her.

“Forgive me for asking, but why are you here?”

She froze. Turning to give him a slightly strained smile she replied. “I just came to make sure a dorm mate was recovering.”

He gave her a genuine smile, even if he doubted that was true, which seemed to catch her slightly off guard. “Thank you.”

She quickly turned away but not before Minato caught the flame rising in her cheeks. He grinned madly as she gave him an awkward farewell, not meeting his eyes. He had read her correctly then, she was cold and strict but probably unaccustomed to praise or genuine compliments or even genuine thanks. It would be to his advantage to keep her off balance as much as possible. She was certainly sharp enough to see through some of his actions.

Orpheus sighed but Thanatos crowed at his host's success. Even as socially inept as he was, it was amazing what a genuine smile at a pretty girl could do.

_Oh yeah, I still got it!_

* * *

 

            Sneaking out had been very easy. He changed into the fresh clothes as soon as Mitsuru was out the door with the eagerness of one who's paper thin robe was doing nothing to block the AC chill. The lack of long sleeves made the scars obvious but he was going to rely on his charisma and quiet demeanor to get himself out of any trouble.

            It was all in the way you moved, if you looked like you were supposed to be doing what you were doing, people would pay no mind. In a way, his lazy demeanor helped greatly to make him look harmless.

Thanatos was the absolutely worst Persona for blending in, no matter how he enjoyed observing humans, he made people unconsciously uncomfortable. With his quiet charisma, Orpheus was the best persona at this kind of daylight hour sneaking. As from the legend that his reflection was drawn from elaborated, Orpheus was a musician. Someone whose musical skill had been so great it had soothed the great ruler god of the Underworld. His charisma was only present through his music. In direct contrast, it made him extremely unnoticeable if not playing or speaking.

His two main Persona were the most used and most reliable in his arsenal. Orpheus for daylight interactions and Thanatos for his savagery and bloodthirstiness in the Dark Hour.

Thanatos was the most unique entity that resided in his head. In theory, he was split into two fractions. First, Thanatos himself, bloodthirsty killer and weapon's specialist extraordinaire. He held a deep fondness for blowing things up and setting it on fire. Orpheus generally did not like the chaos that Thanatos liked to cause in his organization of Minato's head. This generally lead to headaches for Minato as the two rivals would duel all over _his_ head, thank you very much. Whoever said Orpheus was weak had another thing coming. He may be very calm and patient but everyone had their breaking point, and it just so happened that Orpheus’ was Thanatos.

            The other fragment was so deeply embedded into his soul, he doubted he'd ever be able to remove it without grievous soul tearing injury. The larger fragment was, surprisingly, Pharos. A small, supposedly innocent, child dressed in prison clothes and a penchant for the creepy. His presence was very weak most of the time, he almost never spoke to him in his head. But some nights, his power would exponentially spike and he was capable of physically forming in the Dark Hour. Minato would never admit it but he was very fond of his creepy pseudo little brother. The kid had a very dry set of humor that was very entertaining. His creepy way of talking became endearing over the years. Plus, he enjoying teaching the embodiment of death about the world, he liked kids.

Minato took an annoyed deep breath as he prepared to slip out of the hospital room.

_Human interaction._ He grumbled. _How tedious._

**_We need to avoid the doctor that oversaw us. Crisp-night-rain._** Orpheus reminded him. **_Do you wish one of us to take over?_**

He paused, mentally eyeing up the two he would trust with his body. Orpheus usually would be ideal, but his personality was identical to his own. If Thanatos took over though…

_That might work. I don’t see any cameras in here. Your creepiness might actually help keep people away. Thanatos, don’t be too obvious._

**_Aw you know me, discrete is my middle name!_ **

Minato could feel a razor-sharp grin spread across his face even before he purposefully sank to the back of his mind and allowed Thanatos to take the reins. It was very bizarre to feel your body moving without your input. He could see his irises in the door glass, overtaken by the supernatural electric blue of death’s presence.

“Woo!” Thanatos whooped, stretching in his new physical form.

A quick hand slicked back all the hair in his face, a touch of static keeping it in that position. Just from that simple alteration, he looked like an entirely different person. Combined with the entirely different body language, there was no chance anyone would connect the two.

Disguise in place, Thanatos bounded out into the corridor. He moved with purpose and a hit of teeth and no one glanced twice at him, subconsciously disturbed by the heavy presence of death walking in human form. It was the same effect that occurred when people saw someone clearly dangerous, an old animalistic instinct that told them to not draw the predator’s attention to themselves. It was a bit of, If I don’t see you, you can’t see me.

Thanatos luxuriated in the freedom, stepping out into the sunlight. In the broad daylight, his repulsive aura dwindled to nearly nothing, easily passed off as the air of a troublemaker instead of something deadlier. He preened under the appreciative glances of the teenagers on the street. Whereas Minato hid his face under heavy locks of hair to remain unnoticeable, Thanatos knew how to handle the attention and use his face. 

**_People always like a bad boy._** He grinned, winking at girl that had stared too long. She blushed scarlet and hurriedly walked away.

Orpheus huffed, voice full of disproval. **_Stop misusing his body._**

**_Aw, you jealous?_ **

**_Must you be such a child?_ **

_Okay, okay, calm down. The ACTUAL owner of the body says we need to find a Velvet room door._

Orpheus gave one final huff. **_The key should give us direction._**

Thanatos hummed and started down the road, the buzz of the compendium leading him on. Minato didn’t bother to ask for the body back, assured that Orpheus would keep his wild counterpart in line, slipping into a light doze. Any excuse to nap was good in his book.

He was finally nudged awake in a dark alley lit by a blue glow. Thanatos easily relinquished control with a cackle. Minato studiously decided not to ask about the new switchblade he could feel in his pocket.There were just some things he didn't want to know.

Before him lay a familiar blue door.

A genuine happy smile crossed his face as he opened the door only he could see. His entire body froze on the mortal plane. It only took half a second before his body relaxed and a coat materialized around his body. A beat later, a teenage girl stepped straight out of thin air as she left the blue door to latch onto his arm.

“Come on Nii-san, show me around!”

“No need to be so pushy!” He smiled indulgently. “I only got here, what? A week ago? And then I spent most of it unconscious! I don't really know my way around...”

“That just makes it more fun!” Hamuko grinned. “We’ll be lost together!”

He merely smiled at her cheerfulness. He had no idea what had happened to her after her death but she seemed to have retained some of her childlike innocence and happiness.

            He guided her around the mall to the best of his limited ability, as he wasn't too familiar with his surroundings either. An hour was spent in the music store with Minato pointing out the modern bands to her, imparting a lot of his stored up useless music trivia and getting her a new CD. The love of music was equally shared among the twins, emphasized by their near identically MP3 players.

            Because Hamuko expressed interest in seeing the spiritually powerful shrine, Minato decided to go along with the idea. Getting directions from a nice guy, if a bit sickly looking, sitting on a bench at Minato's insistence, they both set off. Hamuko remained latched onto his arm as she chattered away, reluctant to let go after so long away from her big brother.

            They took a relaxing walk, taking a different route so they wouldn't pass in front the dorms. Minato refrained from mentioning his miserable life during the years she was dead, only giving general answers. He knew that she probably already seen his collection of scars, even if she didn’t know what caused them.

"So, midget, what…how exactly are you alive again after all this time?”

She frowned lightly, chewing on her lip. "I'm not too sure..."

"Hm?"

She hummed thoughtfully as Minato tugged her out of the way of another light pole. Not even noticing, she hummed some more as he sighed and guided her around the bicycle rack she hadn't seen either.

"Well, I remember dying.” She shrugged. “And there was a lot of blue for a really long time. There were lots of people talking and not-talking. It was weird. I know lots and lots of stuff now that I never knew before.”

“Wait, you were in the _collective unconsciousness?_ “

“I mean, I guess? The Velvet room guys woke me up a little while ago so I’m not too sure about anything. But I’m training to be an attendant now!”

“I didn’t think you were a Blank card…?”

“A what?”

“Er, never mind. Has it been fun?”

She skipped along, full of glee. “Absolutely! Magic is fun! I’ve blown up lots of stuff!”

“Aw,” He ruffled her hair. “Atta girl.”

 "Stop it!” She whined, swatting at his hands. “Look, look, we’re here, so stop!”

            Hamuko was delighted with the traditional shrine. She skipped along the path, finally letting go of him to run away from his tickling fingers. A joyous laugh left her throat as she spun among the fallen petals, her coat flaring out behind her. Minato let a rare soft smile break through his shields. He was smiling far more than he ever had in the past years. It was so peaceful. It was so idyllic, he wished he could stay like that forever.

            A lazy glance through the shrine only revealed a tall man with a beanie petting a white dog. A second glance revealed the man to be a tall, sturdy brunette with an impressive maroon coat. At the sight of him, Thanatos stirred. Minato could feel it too, his sensing abilities sucked but he didn’t need them to know he was staring at something dangerous.

A belated sniff made him tense up. This man smelt like hardened steel, but that wasn’t what caused his alarm, even though a steel scent that strong was especially effective against someone like him. The area was _saturated_ with the man’s scent as well as one that smelt like oddly like blow-dried dog fur. He had accidentally stepped into someone’s territory. He was expecting the shrine to at least be under jurisdiction of one of the Demon Summoner Clans, but this guy was a _Persona User_. He had no business supervising a demon summoning shrine. And he could tell it was that kind of shrine.

            His scent was powerful, but there was a touch of blood and sickness and death that smelt too familiar for him to dismiss. The miasma and decay was unique as far as he knew, he had never met anyone else with the smell. He knew these symptoms, these effects and this familiar scent of fatalistic resolve.

**_He is burning his own life force to suppress his Persona._** Thanatos reported grimly.

_He has suppressant poisoning._ Minato grit his teeth. _That man has already infiltrated and poisoned a user in this area._

**_There’s no telling if there are others, further on in deterioration, or already dead._ **

_He wouldn’t know anything about other users. It’s unlikely the dealer would tell his victims how many of them he was poisoning._

**_We could always ask who his dealer is._ **

_Oh my god, Thanatos! You can’t just walk up to a guy and ask him who his dealer is!_

**_…Why not?_ **

            As the man straightened up, their gazes locked. In that moment, both knew of each other’s power. The utter violent nature of both their Personas connected across the space. Kindred spirits of a manner, Minato would think. The Wild Card dipped his head briefly in respect but didn't blink. Showing something that wild a weakness would label him as prey and an easy target. 

            Minato let Thanatos's sheer power seep into the air, but the man's Persona was wickedly powerful and not about to bow down easily. But little by little, the raging Persona quieted. It may be ridiculously strong but Thanatos was DEATH and everything bowed to him in the end. The man relaxed slightly as the ever-oppressive presence of his own power became silent.

            The moment was shattered by Hamuko bouncing in front of the other man. The staring contest shattered as the other fighter looked down at her in confusion. Minato had to stop himself from rushing forward to pull her away but the Persona-User didn't seem aggressive. In fact, he seemed outright befuddled.

**_He seems to be holding up quite well. His Persona type must be slowing the deterioration. We’ll have some time to sort out his situation._ **

_Yeah, I don’t want to confront this guy about his drug habits when Hamuko is here._

“Huh?” The man blinked, staring at the girl now smiling at him.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mister! What's your name?”

The man tugged his beanie over his eyes to hide his discomfort in the situation. “Tch. I ain't that old, there’s no need to call me 'Mister'.”

Hamuko's smile didn't diminish in the slightest at his caustic attitude, in fact, the sparkle of mischief in her eye only grew stronger. “Okay, Nice to meet you Sempai!”

The man nearly choked. “Don't call me that either!”

“Then what's your name Sempai?”

He was silent, eyes averted. The dog at his feet nudged him encouragingly. Minato gave it an assessing glance as he drifted closer. The dog appeared to be an albino Shiba Inu, but much larger than he had ever seen. The breed was usually small, only a foot and a half tall at most. Even the larger Japanese breeds of dogs that looked similar to a Shiba weren’t this large. The red eyed dog had shaggy fur but was well fed and appeared to be quite intelligent, if the assessing gaze being leveled at him in return meant anything.

_Ah, that explains the warm dog fur smell._

Behind the dog’s eyes was something dangerous and filled with hellfire and darkness. Something old and oddly protective, a hellfire beast tamed by kindness rather than a contract. He couldn’t smell any hint of a contract holder in the dog’s scent. It was a bit of a surprise; a free roaming spirit or demon was rare. Usually the one of the supernatural police forces would bring all their might down on unchained wandering demons.

The dog finished its scan and-Minato was amused to see-dismissed him completely as a threat and went back to pointedly nudging his human companion.

“Shinjiro Aragaki.” He grudgingly acquiesced.

“Okay, Shinjiro-sempai!” Hamuko chirped with a grin full of mischief.

“Don't call me that!” He huffed and ducked his head away, embarrassment colouring his cheeks.

            Minato hid his grin behind a hand. Despite his rough appearance, the man really seemed kind-hearted. He just didn’t seem to know how to deal with people. Hamuko peppered the man with cheerful questions, even as he looked highly confused at the barrage. They locked gazes briefly as Minato began to approach, Shinjiro flicked his eyes downward to Hamuko and back up as if to say.

  _Is she involved?_

            A perfectly reasonable question to ask another Persona-User when you meet them, prevents you from sounding like an idiot in front of other people. Minato gave a slight shake of the head. She may be a resident of the Velvet Room but she had barely started learning magic. No one had told her yet of Personae and shadows and how her brother fought for his life in the time between days. How his body was constantly on threat of organ failure. They would get there eventually, but it wouldn’t be for a while yet.

“Hamuko, it’s getting dark. We need to get home.”

She pouted and turned. “But nii-san, I made a new friend!”

“I noticed.” he said dryly, studying Shinjiro thoroughly. “I'm Minato Arisato. This highly energetic sister of mine is Hamuko Arisato.”

“Tch. You heard my name already.” The man gruffly responded with a wary glance.

Neither male offered a handshake but Minato inclined his head again. “It is nice to meet you Aragaki-san but we really have to be going.”

“Nii-saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan...” She whined.

“Do you want Margret to grill me for keeping you out late?” He countered, amused by her antics.

“Fine...” She grumbled before turning to Shinjiro. “I guess I'll see you later Shinjiro-sempai!”

“Don't call me that!”

“I’ll see you later, Aragaki-san.” Minato called back at the man, a farewell and a promise.

X

 


	8. SEES Interrogation Unit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SEES tries their hand at interrogation. Minato lies like a professional conman by telling the truth (mostly).  
> Happy Minato Death-day, it's the third of March

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, I'm sorry for vanishing for SEVERAL months. I have had no energy left to write. Why am I doing this degree again?  
> I'm just tired all the time, I'm wondering if I should cut out most of the extra fluff after I have all the set up done and just go full moon fights only because to be honest, those are the main reason I write this thing. The mega high-stress magical death combat. I need better hobbies. and more s l e e p

_4/18/09_

 

"Uh...Morning..."

            Minato eyed the brunette girl with great amusement. After watching him jump off a building and engage in hand-to-hand combat to the death with a Shadow, the poor girl simply didn't know how to react to him.

            After that interesting outing with his re-found not-dead sister yesterday, he had escorted her back home without any difficulties. And by that he meant Margret didn’t set him on fire for having his sister out after dark. Not wanting to be harassed about curfew, he then had to break into his own room via the second-floor window. At this point, he really didn’t see the point in leaving the camera operational to track his comings and goings, and when he changed clothes. That was just be creepy. Too tired to try a sensible solution, he just froze the entire corner of the ceiling.

Serves them right for being a bunch of stalkers.

"Good Morning Takeba-san." He greeted politely.

She looked even more uncomfortable. "Uh...you seem to be doing well..."

He raised an eyebrow.

            Any evidence of his moonlit scuffle had long since healed completely. Even his magic reserves had recovered perfectly. His magic consumption rate was quite high but so was his magic regeneration rate, especially in such a spiritually saturated city. The visit to the shrine had helped a lot, as a place with a thinner barrier between worlds, it had a high concentration of spiritual energy. Swimming in such concentrated energy had almost tripled his regeneration rate.

            Aside from lingering phantom pains in his lungs and a well-founded urge to take things easy for a little longer, he was feeling better than he had in years.  

"I guess." He shrugged at her.

"Wow...I guess after all that rest you would be…"

            She was starting to become comfortable talking to him now. He decided to take pity on her and not retort back with the sarcastic jibe on his tongue. The last time she had seen him he had been savagely brawling with a giant monster born from the depths of human consciousness. No need to kick her world view further...for now. Harassing her sheltered civilian self was fun though. Minato was honestly baffled at what mental scarring she had that made her capable of summoning a Persona.

"Hey, sorry to add this to your worries, but... Ikutsuki-san wants to talk to you today. Come to the 4th floor of the dorm after school, okay? Don't forget."

"I won’t." He told her coolly, hurrying into the building.

He had to prepare to sell his story like he meant it.

* * *

"H-hey Junpei."

            Junpei leaned back, gaping dramatically. As soon as Minato reached near a desk, he instantly latched onto it for support. His legs were oddly not agreeing with him at the moment. Why did his class have to be up a flight of stairs? Why was it he could fight constantly for an hour in hellish conditions but outside the dark hour three flights of stairs left him wheezing. He really needed to stop running up stairs. To be fair, he had been testing how his lungs would handle a little exertion. The answer was, not well at all.

"Woah, dude! Are you okay?"

Minato shot him the dryest look imaginable. "What do _you_ think."

            Instantly, Junpei was by his side, helping him support his own weight as he started to cough. Several people were turning curiously to watch the odd sight. Whispers were already going out.

“What?” He snapped. “You never *cough* seen anyone with asthma before?”

The other students grew less curious at that announcement now that they had a legitimate reason for his absence. The Magician carefully guided the Fool towards his desk.

"What happened? Was it a gang? Did you beat them up? Oh, I bet it was a bear!"

            Settling at his desk, he blinked several times looking up at his friend. He started to chuckle softly before breaking into rare full blown laughter.

"A-a bear?!" He gasped out.

Junpei sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah I didn't believe that rumor either."

"Rumor? Already?" He asked, as his laughter died down. "What are they saying about me now?"

"Which one?"

"Oh, good gods." Minato grumbled, rubbing his forehead.

Junpei began to tick off the stories on his fingers. "One says you fought a bear. One says you got mugged by a gang. The last one says you got picked a fight with a gang, beat them up and became the boss.”

"No, No... what was that last one?"

Junpei shrugged. "They just said you got mugged, beat the crap out of your assailants, had them swear undying loyalty and then went to the hospital to check in all your new followers."

Minato blinked several times. "Huh."

"Amazing, huh?"

"I think I like that last one." Minato grinned.

"So, what actually happened?" Junpei leaned closer.

“Well none of those, obviously.”

“Minatooooooooooo…”

            The Wild Card looked at him with a sigh. He was like a five-year-old waiting for a bedtime story. It felt like kicking a puppy to not tell him. How was it possible that a scruffy teenager could still pull of puppy eyes? Thankfully, Ms. Toriumi decided to enter the classroom at that moment to spare him the shame.

"Nothing. I'll tell you later." He expertly dodged.

            In a moment of insight, Junpei must’ve picked up Minato's uneasiness with the topic of the source of his injuries and decided to not ask about it again for the rest of the day. Minato was very thankful. He really didn't want to feel like he kicked a puppy. He liked animals.

            Thankfully the long day of sitting down at a desk allowed Orpheus to finish cleaning up his lungs to the best of his ability. By the time the day was drawing to a close Minato was back to his usual snarky and antisocial self.

…and also, capable of outrunning Junpei before he could ask him anything.

* * *

            Minato entered the dorm quickly, easing the door shut behind him. The instant he did so his Compendium thudded into his hand. He had no idea what was in store for him but he wasn’t planning to be caught off guard if things went under and potential allies became confirmed enemies. A wary glance around the empty lobby confirmed that he was, in fact, alone.

He quickly called forward Orpheus to the forefront of his mind as he started up the stairs. He needed calm. He needed more than calm, he needed the detachment.

_Alright, Thanatos you need to keep yourself in check._

_They did know about him having a savage death god in his head, but if his persona displayed overt hostility to Ikutsuki, it would make them ask questions._

_The more ruckus we raise, the more questions it will raise. No matter what he did to us we CANNOT react. Indifference will keep us alive._

Thanatos grumbled darkly. **He tried to KILL you and practically CRIPPLED YOU!**

_Thanatos, Please._

It was rare that Minato begged him for anything, as their instincts usually ran the same way. They had the same brutal straightforwardness that ran more towards slaughtering problems that trying for subterfuge and playing the long game. But this was far more serious. Instinct was going to have to be shoved down as far as possible so that he could slip, unnoticed, into the lair of the beast.

_If you cannot keep yourself in check I fear our animosity and rage will overtake us and we'll kill him without finding out his plan._

**_If we kill him now,_ ** **Orpheus added.** **_We won’t figure out his goal. And with that giant nest of shadows looming over the city, we need his information._ **

**Fine. Only 'cause you asked nicely.** He grumbled.

_Thank you. When we get to kill him, I promise to give you full reign._

**Damn Straight!**

**_Well, I guess It’s my show now._** Orpheus grumbled, shoving forward to the front of his psyche.

His mask dropped over his soul and Minato relaxed, hopefully the slight emotional dullness will stop his temper from sparking to an inferno at the sight of Ikutsuki’s sleazy face. He had a sinking feeling that it wouldn’t help as much as he hoped. Expression utterly blank, he trooped up the last flight of stairs to meet Yukari standing outside a pair of thick wooden doors.

"Oh! There you are!" She smiled uneasily.

            He obediently followed her lead into the meeting room, sharply observing. His eyes were immediately drawn to the large monitor that took up a whole wall. Ah. That answered the question of the ‘watched’ feeling. They were basically giving him ammunition to use against them. He was going to have fun with this. Mitsuru, Ikutsuki, and the silver-haired senpai were already sitting around the table. As they entered, Ikutsuki eagerly raised his head.

"Ah, there you are. I'm glad that you're okay. The reason I asked you here is because I needed to talk to you. Please, have a seat."

Minato eyed the shiny silver briefcase on the table warily before settling down gingerly on a couch opposite the combined force. Yukari also settled down on a loveseat off to the side.

"Oh yes, before we get down to business. This is Akihiko Sanada."

"How ya doin'?" The senior amiably greeted with a smile.

Minato tilted his head, studying the source of the ozone-steel-sweat scent. He was taller than him, he could tell even when sitting down. Though that didn’t mean much since most people were taller than him. At some point, most of his nutrient intake had been too busy filing his energy reserves to divert to growth. So even among the Japanese populace which had a fairly short national average height, he was very short, especially for a male. This guy was above the average, but not to the extent of Shinjiro who loomed over him.

More importantly, his body was packed with streamlined muscle. This guy knew how to fight. He met his gaze evenly, no trace of fear in the silver eyes. In that way, at least, he reminded him of Shinji. Yukari was terrified of him, even Mitsuru was wary, but Shinji had been flatly unafraid of him even after feeling Thanatos’s power in the shrine. Akihiko was weaker than Shinjiro but carried that same solid fearlessness. Minato couldn’t help being impressed. And from the appreciative and well-hidden glint of bloodthirst in the mercury eyes, he was surprised to see that the sentiment was returned.

It was rare for him to meet anyone who accepted his savagery, much less someone who wholeheartedly approved. He was almost gleeful at realizing that the senior was also a battle junkie who thrilled at fighting in the Dark Hour.

 **Man, what a find!** Thanatos whistled. **It’s a pity he has an injury, I’d love to see him in a fight.**

_He did manage to survive a brawl for a good while with Sir Shadow knives-a-lot._

**_I feel sorry for him._** Orpheus mused. **_Such a low healing rate must feel like torture when his soul calls for combat._**

**I feel sorry that he’s stuck with these wet blankets! They have too much propriety and duty, duty, duty, the poor wolf must feel stifled.**

 

"You're the one who gets mugged by fangirls." Minato greeted back amiably.

There was silence for a few seconds before Akihiko slapped a hand over his face to hide his embarrassed laughter. Mitsuru chuckled into her hand. Yukari just looked confused.

"It’s not like I _want_ to get mugged," He hastily said. "Aren't we supposed to be discussing something else?!"

"Right," Ikutsuki clapped his hands. “We’ve called you here to deal with a serious issue.”

The mood quickly sobered. Mitsuru looked grim, like a goddess set for war, prepared to conscript another soul for her mighty quest. Yukari’s jaw was clenched, she seemed like the sort to want people to volunteer but was grimly aware that this was not something where people were given a choice. They could pretend all they like, but the illusion of choice was just the polite and easy way of getting the new persona user to think it was their own idea to join. The only one who was still amused was Akihiko, who realized that they were in way over their head and facing down a bigger predator who was bemused at their seriousness.

 "Okay, let me start off by asking you this...” Ikutsuki started, full of drama and suspense. “Would you believe me if I said that a day consists of more than 24 hours?"

            Minato honestly couldn’t help it, his temper lit in a flash. Gone from placid calm to flaming rage in a millisecond. In a second _Hades_ was in his hand and pointed at the chairman's throat across the table. The others half rose from their seats in shock. A second ago, he had been blank and unthreatening as a sheet. Now rage was building in his eyes.

"What do you take me for?" He growled, letting Thanatos through a bit. "A fool?”

_Well that was a poor choice of words._

“You know I already know about the Dark Hour. _Stop messing about the subject, we all know why we’re here._ " He hissed full of venom.

Ikutsuki gulped nervously at the poison in his tone, eyeing the shining blade at his throat.

Mitsuru calmly intervened. "Please put away the sword Arisato."

_Back off Thanatos! You're pushing out too far!_

With a twist of the hand the sword shattered back into nothingness. Everyone else looked on in interest at the motion though Ikutsuki merely looked thankful to be out from its blade.

“I have no patience for whatever game you’re playing.” He told them bluntly. “Who are you people and what the heck do you want me for?”

"Long story short, we're the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad-SEES for short. On paper, we're classified as a school club. But in reality, this group is dedicated to defeating the Shadows. Mitsuru is the leader. I'm the club advisor."

"Defeat the shadows?” He scoffed. “How exactly are you planning to defeat the embodiment of the darkness of _human consciousness_?”

Mitsuru looked suspicious but decided to let it go. “If we find how to stop the Dark Hour, the shadows will also vanish and the spread of Apathy Syndrome will stop.”

“Apathy Syndrome, huh. That’s a nice idea.” He shrugged. “But Shadows won’t go away. It might work, but not in the way you think. Removing the middle ground where they can pull humans through to devour them would stop Apathy Syndrome but the shadows themselves would always exist.”

_And though the Dark Hour is the only consistent breach I know of, I know there are others but their conditions are too vague or unknown. Like Inaba’s Fog Zone once every fifty or so years._

“Once we can stop Apathy Syndrome, we will continue to investigate.” Mitsuru declared firmly.

“You don’t understand. The Dark Hour is the _middle ground_ you won’t be able to investigate anything else because _you would’ve closed it_.”

The Kirijo Heiress took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “In that case, stopping Apathy Syndrome is more important. Shadows don’t normally affect people otherwise.”

“Hmm...only three Persona Users in an area hosting the Nest of Shadows, that's not wise."

"You know about the tower?" Akihiko asked in surprise.

Minato tilted his head. "Well, Yes. It was hard to miss."

“That’s our goal.” Mitsuru declared. “We believe that the tower holds some clues about how the Dark Hour started and how we can end it.”

Mitsuru got up and opened the briefcase. Inside was a gleaming silver faux-gun and a red armband similar to what all the others wore with S.E.E.S written on in in bold black lettering.

"What we were trying to say is, we want you to join us. We've prepared an Evoker for you. We'd like you to lend us your strength."

“Do I have a choice?” He watched them with bemusement. “If I refuse, you can easily make my life a living hell, _Kirijo-san_.”

“W-what?” She startled. “I’m not going to pressure you to accept! Look, even if you don’t accept membership, I still want you to have an Evoker for your own protection.”

He tilted his head emotionlessly. Then he started to laugh.

"You think I need an Evoker?" He chuckled. "Did you see me use one before?”

She looked unsure. Ikutsuki just looked downright fascinated. “That’s right, you didn’t use one before.”

“I am a Summoner, not a User. The facets of my soul do not require a medium to materialize."

"What is a Summoner?" Ikutsuki asked eagerly, leaning forward.

"Someone with a Compendium at their disposal." He admitted, tapping the inconspicuous book. "I'm afraid that I'm the only mortal one left."

"Hm... There are others then?" Mitsuru calmly replied.

"Indeed." He replied honestly. "But as I said, they won't help you, only me. And even I can only receive limited assistance from them. They will not fight for you. They don't even reside on this plane of existence."

To her credit, Mitsuru only blinked in response to his statement.

"What is a ‘Compendium’ then?" Ikutsuki asked eagerly.

            Minato lifted his book to show the team, with an almost invisible smirk on his lips. They took in the plain hardcover book with confusion. The Summoner smiled and channeled the barest of energy into the tome. A blue aura flared to life around the book and a pulse of invisible pressure seemed to emanate from it.

 **Okay, I've scanned all of them using the Compendium.** Orpheus reported. **The strongest would be Mitsuru in terms of Spiritual Rank.**

"Before you get any ideas, this book only answers to me and always remains by my side. It is near indestructible. It also cannot be replicated. Each Compendium is unique to each summoner." He told them harshly, fixing them in serious silver eyes. "Do not tamper with it or the spirits within _will_ kill you."

The flash of annoyance in Ikutsuki's eyes didn't go unnoticed by the Wild Card.

"I've been a Persona Summoner for seven years," He smiled, letting some of Orpheus fade back. "But I've been awake for ten."

Mitsuru's jaw tightened. He could see the guilt and pain in her eyes. Ah. Kirijo. That explained everything. Her family was the one that created the Dark Hour, accident or not.

“Doesn’t that mean you had no method of defense for the first 3 years?” Akihiko shrewdly pointed out.

“I was a Persona-User for those years. I believe you saw me summon him?”

They all cringed except Akihiko. The senior looked almost thrilled, possibly realizing that the kind of Persona Minato had, meant that he was a fellow battle junkie.

“Wait, so then how’d you become a Summoner?” Ikutsuki eagerly asked.

“It’s a very complicated method.” He replied coolly. “It cannot be replicated.”

“Are you sure of that?”

“Positive.”

“Hmm….”

He could feel the suspicion being leveled at him.

 **Distrust will sour any working relationship.** Orpheus advised. **We also don’t need them deciding to dissect us. It won’t harm us to tell them, the method really is unique, but it may harm us if we don’t.**

“You know what,” Minato sighed. “I don’t feel like getting dissected.”

“Why do you always think the worst?!”

“Forgive me Kirijo-san, but you run a group. You cannot control the actions of all the individuals. Unfortunately, dissection or any study won’t reveal anything. As far as I can understand, I’ve had a Compendium tied to my soul since I was born. One of the Summoners is supposed to look after it until I pass from the mortal realm. And when I die, I would get my Compendium and join their ranks.”

“Woah…”

He had to hide a smile at how they were lapping up the lies. He wasn’t certain how the Attendants became Blank Cards but SEES had none of that information and were unlikely to come across it by any other methods. This was the best method he could think of to highlight that he was _NOT_ a Wild Card.

“However, because of the Dark Hour, I was throwing around magic and summoning before I was supposed to do so. The Summoners decided to induct me early because I wouldn’t survive otherwise. They don’t have large enough numbers to allow a potential to slip by. My guardian summoner handed over my Compendium and I became the first mortal summoner.”

“Well I guess you’re right.” Akihiko laughed. “You can’t replicate that.”

“Even cloning won’t work.” Minato added cheekily. “The trait isn’t carried in my DNA.”

Mitsuru looked disgruntled at his not-so-thinly veiled accusations. He was mainly throwing all the barbs for Ikutsuki’s benefit. He didn’t want the man trying anything, so he was clipping off any ideas before they could start. The man’s teeth were grinding behind smiling lips. Minato and Thanatos gloried in the annoyance they were causing him.

"Moving on, as a Summoner, I can use all the elements with varying degrees of proficiency and can negate attacks if I see them coming."

            It was best to let them know how dangerous he could be without informing them of the full extent of his abilities. The idea of his ability to cast outside the Dark Hour would not be a good thing to let them know with Ikutsuki in the room. Dates of incidents that happened to him would have to be lied about to prevent suspicion from falling on him. The only good thing was that after what happened seven years ago, the little boy Wild Card was supposed to be dead.

Then he grimaced, realizing a flaw in his plan.

"If you truly want me to work with you, I must tell you about my condition."

"You want terms?" Yukari asked in confusion.

"No," Minato chuckled. "My medical condition. I have a quite serious one. Do you still want me to join?"

"Yes," Mitsuru answered confidently. "It would be safer for you if you have a liability like you're implying. You are quite strong and have a quick mind and a decade of experience. Even if we don't send you into the field you can give sound tactical advice."

Minato nodded grudgingly. "You have a point."

"Though...Forgive me, but your files showed nothing medically wrong. The doctor that looked you over found something seriously wrong with your lungs but couldn’t identify the problem..."

He stared at her blankly. "Do you think I can honestly go to a regular doctor with my condition?"

"It is Dark Hour related?" Ikutsuki demanded, leaning hungrily forward.

            Minato sighed uncomfortably. How much could he give away without revealing himself? It was critical he inform them about his condition but the idea of Ikutsuki also hearing it was not appealing at all. He may link the symptoms with those found in long term suppressant users.

"I was not aware that the Dark Hour can cause medical problems." Mitsuru stated dryly.

"It... well...isn't directly linked to the Hour..." He shrugged. "Thanatos is too strong for my body…”

“Oh!” Yukari interrupted. “The doctor told us! He said your body breaks down if you use him, right?”

“Wow,” He said unsmiling. “Whatever happened to patient confidentiality, I wonder.”

The girl instantly looked sorry she ever opened her mouth.

“Look, overreaching myself is a serious business. If you do it you only get tired, right?”

The older two, well used to pushing their limits, nodded.

“Well It’s not like that for me. I strained my body so much summoning Thanatos when I was younger that my body is very reliant on my spiritual power and his presence _inside_ me to function. If I use too much or Thanatos makes an appearance, the blood vessels in my lungs burst and I start to drown in my own blood.”

Yukari was grossed out, her face looking almost green. The seniors were cold-eyed serious.

“That is the most obvious symptom. For lesser cases of drain I sometimes get dizzy or experience muscle weakness. If I overexert myself in any way, physical or magical, I have respiratory problems similar to severe asthma. And like asthma, It’s utterly incurable and potentially fatal if it continues for an extended period of time.”

"The doctor was right about his suspicions then. Your time fighting would have to be regulated..." Mitsuru murmured, tapping her chin in thought.

"Don't bother." Minato shook his head. "Besides, the shadows won't leave me alone. I've fought ten years, I can last another."

"Another? Are you planning to leave at the end of the year?"

He closed his eyes and tilted his head back slightly, an enigmatic smirk on his face.

"It’s just a turn of phrase."

She gave him an entirely unimpressed look and crossed her arms. He chuckled dryly but remained silent on the matter, continuing with his explanation.

“All of this was never good when I was surrounded by shadows or running from them. That brings me to another side of my illness."

" _Surrounded by shadows?"_ Mitsuru wondered. _"We barely encounter four at a time, maximum!"_

"Something draws Shadows to me. If they're anywhere within a certain distance from me they immediately home in on me and attack in numbers.”

"Oh my..." Yukari gasped, looking horrified. "Those scars-!"

He nodded grimly, not bothering to ask how they knew about them. "Those are from the early days when I didn't know how to fight and had a weaker set of Personas at my disposal. They _loved_ me then. Every night was a deathmatch."

"It sure was difficult to explain the numerous broken bones in the morning." He chuckled without humour. “As yes, I don’t miss those days before I figured out how to heal.”

Even stoic Mitsuru was looking a little sick at the thought.

"Hmm, I may have been…eleven? A gigas had thrown me into a building. Broke my spine quite badly, it’s rather a nasty thing to deal with honestly, not that that’s the last time I broke my spine. Breaking your neck is even worse! Anyway, I guess the fatal shock managed to kickstart some sort of internal healing factor? I heal quite fast now-I’ve even managed to reattach limbs before- but it burns through my spiritual reserves quite fast. I like to think I got quite good at weird spiritual surgery. Well, I survived at least."

"That's..." Yukari seemed to be in something of shock.

“Though honestly, I can’t really heal anybody else. I’ve never really cast healing spells, Thanatos doesn’t much like them.”

 **Ugh** _,_ Thanatos shuddered. **It’s like having a bath in the sun. It’s really damn bright** _._

“The shadow attraction and inability to heal others might make me something of a liability if you intend for me to play a support role." He confessed plainly.

"That's fine." Mitsuru stated firmly. "It will be safer for you to have others around you to help protect yourself. If we leave you they would still come after you but you'd be alone."

“Well,” He said, not entirely joking. “I don’t want the Kirijo Group to blacklist me so I guess I’ll join your fruitless crusade.”

He picked up the armband with a faint smile and began to attach it to his uniform jacket.

"Guess that's that." He nodded. "I look forward to working with you."

A familiar voice rang in his head and he had to hold back a wider smile.

**Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choose to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana...**

"Thank you so much. I'm really glad." the chairman smiled. "Oh, I almost forgot...About your room assignment... Why don't you just stay here, in your current room? I don't know what the holdup is, but I guess it worked out in the end."

Minato tilted his head impassively. "I was under the impression that the dorm was for those capable of moving through the Dark Hour. There is no need to hide the fact that you were stalking me to find out if I had 'Potential'. If you would note, there is now a small iceberg where your camera once was."

The room was silent.

"I think that's all for the meeting!" Ikutsuki decided to beat a hasty retreat and fled out the door.

As soon as he left Minato shot a death glare after him.

"Creepy stalker pedophile..." He mumbled under his breath to himself.

Yukari and the others got up to go but Minato quickly called out to Mitsuru.

"Kirijo-senpai? I believe I need to arrange for a new uniform jacket since I totaled the last one."

* * *

 

**Dark Hour**

 

"Hi, how are you?"

"Peachy." He deadpanned.

"Good to hear!" Pharos remarked cheerfully.

            Once again, his shadowed side had taken full advantage of the Dark Hour to manifest himself in Minato's room. Said person partially unburrowed himself from his nest of blankets and sighed at the sight of the boy innocently smiling at the foot of his bed.

"Is there any chance I will be getting a full night's sleep?" He dryly responded.

Pharos ignored his snark as usual and clapped his hands together. "Soon, the end will come. I remembered, so I thought I should tell you."

Instantly, Minato was on guard. "The end? Mine? Or in general?"

The boy in the prison clothes sat comfortably at the foot of his bed, starting to swing his feet childishly. "The end of everything...but to be honest, I don't really know what it is."

Minato facepalmed with a groan of annoyance. "Typical, why do you never know about half the prophecies you announce?"

Pharos perked up. "Oh, you mean like that one I picked up? 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...'?"

"Ugh, I hate that one. You need better hobbies."

Pharos hummed happily and grinned. "Your power is getting stronger, you know. It just might be your salvation depending on where you end up."

"...Hm..." He stared up at the ceiling, lost in thought.

Pharos smiled enigmatically at Minato, rising from the bed. "It's nice to see you for once. Okay then, I guess I'll see you later."

"Pharos!"

"Hm?"

"You can stay you know." Minato sighed in exasperation.

            He wasn't going to get any sleep during Dark Hour anyway, might as well do something with the time. The boy's face lit up in a bright smile and dove onto the bed. Quite happy to be close to his favourite person, he lay next to his theoretical older brother with no regards to personal space. Not that there could be anything personal between them since they shared a head. Staring at Minato with happy eyes, he kicked his feet childishly against the bed.

"So how was your day?"


End file.
